Methods and systems for object identification and interaction

ABSTRACT

A method of facilitating an interaction between a user and a product item, the product item having an identity and the method including a number of steps. The first step involves providing the user with an interface surface associated with the product item and containing information relating to the product item. The interface surface includes coded data indicative of the identity of the product item and of a number of reference points of the interface surface. The next step involves receiving, in a computer system, indicating data from a sensing device regarding the identity of the product item and a position of the sensing device relative to the interface surface. The sensing device, when placed in an operative position relative to the interface surface, sensing the coded data in the vicinity of the sensing device and generating the indicating data using the sensed coded data. The next step involves facilitating, in the computer system and with reference to the indicating data, the interaction between the user and the product item.

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. applicationSer. No. __/____ filed on Dec. 4, 2002 entitled “ROTATIONALLY SYMMETRICTAGS” (NPT020) which application was a continuation-in-part of U.S.application Ser. No. 09/663701 filed on Sep. 15, 2000

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates to unique object identification and, inparticular, to methods and systems for identifying and interacting withobjects.

CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS

[0003] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following U.S. applications co-filed bythe applicant or assignee of the present invention:

[0004] U.S. Ser. No. __/____ entitled “Orientation-Indicating CyclicPosition Codes” (docket number NPT019US);

[0005] U.S. Ser. No. __/____ entitled “Symmetric Tags” (docket numberNPT023US);

[0006] U.S. Ser. No. __/____ entitled “Methods and Systems for ObjectIdentification and Interaction” (docket number NIR001US);

[0007] U.S. Ser. No. __/____ entitled “Methods and Systems for ObjectIdentification and Interaction” (docket number NIR003US); and

[0008] U.S. Ser. No. __/____ entitled “Methods and Systems for ObjectIdentification and Interaction” (docket number NIR004US).

[0009] The disclosures of these co-filed applications are incorporatedherein by cross-reference.

[0010] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following application filed by theapplicant or assignee of the present invention on Apr. 7, 2003:Australian Provisional Application No. ______ entitled “Methods andSystems for Object Identification and Interaction” (docket numberNIR002AU). The disclosures of this co-pending application areincorporated herein by cross-reference.

[0011] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending PCT applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Dec. 4,2002: U.S. Ser. No. __/____ entitled “Rotationally Symmetric Tags”(docket number NPT020US). The disclosures of these co-pendingapplications are incorporated herein by cross-reference.

[0012] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending PCT applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Nov. 22,2002:

[0013] PCT/AU02/01572 and PCT/AU/02/01573.

[0014] The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporatedherein by cross-reference.

[0015] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending PCT applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Oct. 15,2002:

[0016] PCT/AU02/01391, PCT/AU02/01392, PCT/AU02/01393, PCT/AU02/01394and PCT/AU02/01395.

[0017] The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporatedherein by cross-reference.

[0018] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending PCT applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Nov. 26,2001:

[0019] PCT/AU01/01527, PCT/AU01/01528, PCT/AU01/01529, PCT/AU01/01530and PCT/AU01/01531.

[0020] The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporatedherein by cross-reference.

[0021] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending PCT applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Oct. 11,2001: PCT/AU01/01274. The disclosures of these co-pending applicationsare incorporated herein by cross-reference.

[0022] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending PCT applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Aug. 14,2001: PCT/AU01/00996. The disclosures of these co-pending applicationsare incorporated herein by cross-reference.

[0023] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending U.S. applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Nov. 27,2000:

[0024] U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/721895, 09/721894,09/722174,09/721896,09/722148, 09/722146, 09/721861, 09/721892,09/722171, 09/721858, 09/722142, 09/722087, 09/722141, 09/722175,09/722147, 09/722172, 09/721893, 09/722088, 09/721862, 09/721856,09/721857, 09/721859, 09/721860

[0025] The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporatedherein by cross-reference.

[0026] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending U.S. applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Oct. 20,2000:

[0027] U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/693415, 09/693219,09/693280, 09/693515, 09/693705, 09/693647, 09/693690, 09/693593,09/693216,09/693341,09/696473, 09/696514, 09/693301, 09/693388,09/693704, 09/693510,09/693336, 09/693335

[0028] The disclosures of these co-pending U.S. applications areincorporated herein by cross-reference.

[0029] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending U.S. applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Sep. 15,2000:

[0030] U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/663579, 09/669599,09/663701, 09/663640

[0031] The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporatedherein by cross-reference.

[0032] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending U.S. applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Jun. 30,2000:

[0033] U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/609139, 09/608970,09/609039, 09/607852, 09/607656, 09/609132, 09/609303, 09/610095,09/609596, 09/607843, 09/607605, 09/608178, 09/609553, 09/609233,09/609149, 09/608022, 09/609232, 09/607844, 09/607657, 09/608920,09/607985, 09/607990, 09/607196, 09/606999

[0034] The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporatedherein by cross-reference.

[0035] Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the presentinvention are disclosed in the following co-pending U.S. applicationsfiled by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on May 23,2000:

[0036] U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/575197, 09/575195,09/575159, 09/575132, 09/575123, 09/575148, 09/575130, 09/575165,09/575153, 09/575118, 09/575131, 09/575116, 09/575144, 09/575139,09/575186, 09/575185, 09/575191, 09/575145, 09/575192, 09/575181,09/575193, 09/575156, 09/575183, 09/575160, 09/575150, 09/575169,09/575184, 09/575128, 09/575180, 09/575149, 09/575179, 09/575187,09/575155, 09/575133, 09/575143, 09/575196, 09/575198, 09/5757809/575164, 09/575146, 09/575174, 09/575163, 09/575168, 09/575154,09/575129, 09/575124, 09/575188, 09/575189, 09/575162, 09/575172,09/575170, 09/575171, 09/575161, 09/575141, 09/575125, 09/575142,09/575140, 09/575190, 09/575138, 09/575126, 09/575127, 09/575158,09/575117, 09/575147, 09/575152, 09/575176, 09/575115, 09/575114,09/575113, 09/575112, 09/575111, 09/575108, 09/575109, 09/575110

[0037] The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporatedherein by cross-reference.

BACKGROUND

[0038] For the purposes of automatic identification, a product item iscommonly identified by a 12-digit Universal Product Code (UPC), encodedmachine-readably in the form of a printed bar code.

[0039] Within supply chain management, there is considerable interest inexpanding or replacing the UPC scheme to allow individual product itemsto be uniquely identified and thereby tracked. Individual item taggingcan reduce “shrinkage” due to lost, stolen or spoiled goods, improve theefficiency of demand-driven manufacturing and supply, facilitate theprofiling of product usage, and improve the customer experience.

[0040] There are two main contenders for individual item tagging:optical tags in the form of two-dimensional bar codes, and radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags. Optical tags have the advantage ofbeing inexpensive, but require optical line-of-sight for reading. RFIDtags have the advantage of supporting omnidirectional reading, but arecomparatively expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0041] According to a first aspect of the present invention there isdisclosed a method of facilitating an interaction between a user and aproduct item, the product item having an identity and the methodincluding the steps of:

[0042] providing the user with an interface surface associated with theproduct item and containing information relating to the product item,the interface surface having disposed thereon coded data indicative ofthe identity of the product item and of a plurality of reference pointsof the interface surface;

[0043] receiving, in a computer system, indicating data from a sensingdevice regarding the identity of the product item and a position of thesensing device relative to the interface surface, the sensing device,when placed in an operative position relative to the interface surface,sensing at least some of the coded data in the vicinity of the sensingdevice and generating the indicating data using at least some of thesensed coded data; and

[0044] facilitating, in the computer system and with reference to theindicating data, the interaction between the user and the product item.

[0045] Preferably, the interaction is associated with at least one zoneof the interface surface and in which the method includes identifying,in the computer system and from the zone relative to which the sensingdevice is located, the interaction.

[0046] Preferably, the method includes:

[0047] receiving, in the computer system, data regarding movement of thesensing device relative to the interface surface, the sensing devicesensing its movement relative to the interface surface using at leastsome of the coded data; and

[0048] identifying, in the computer system and from the movement beingat least partially within the at least one zone, the interaction.

[0049] According to a second aspect of the present invention there isdisclosed a method of facilitating an interaction between a user and aproduct item, the product item having an identity and the methodincluding the steps of:

[0050] providing the user with an interface surface associated with theproduct item, the interface surface containing information relating tothe product item and having disposed thereon coded data indicative ofthe identity of the product item and a parameter of the interaction;

[0051] receiving, in a computer system and from a sensing device,indicating data regarding the identity of both the product item and theparameter of the interaction, and movement data regarding movement ofthe sensing device relative to the interface surface, the sensingdevice, when moved relative to the interface surface, sensing at leastsome of the coded data and generating the indicating data and themovement data using at least some of the sensed coded data; and

[0052] interpreting, in the computer system, the indicating data and themovement data as it relates to the interaction.

[0053] According to a third aspect of the present invention there isdisclosed a method of facilitating an interaction between a user and aproduct item, the product item having an identity and the methodincluding the steps of:

[0054] providing the user with an interface surface associated with theproduct item, the interface surface containing information relating tothe product item and having disposed thereon coded data indicative ofthe identity of the product item;

[0055] receiving, in a computer system, user data from a sensing deviceregarding an identity of the user and indicating data regarding theidentity of the product item, the sensing device containing the userdata and, when placed in an operative position relative to the interfacesurface, sensing at least some of the coded data in the vicinity of thesensing device and generating the indicating data using at least some ofthe sensed coded data; and

[0056] facilitating, in the computer system and with reference to theuser data and the indicating data, the interaction between the user andthe product item.

[0057] Preferably, the coded data is also indicative of a parameter ofthe interaction, and the method includes receiving, in the computersystem, indicating data from the sensing device regarding the parameterof the interaction, the sensing device generating the indicating datausing at least some of the sensed coded data.

[0058] Preferably, the method includes receiving, in the computersystem, data from the sensing device regarding movement of the sensingdevice relative to the interface surface, the sensing device generatingdata regarding its own movement relative to the interface surface.

[0059] Preferably, the interaction is selected from the groupcomprising:

[0060] (a) providing product information about the product item to theuser;

[0061] (b) recording a purchase transaction relating to the productitem;

[0062] (c) recording a potential purchase transaction relating to theproduct item;

[0063] (d) providing comparison information to the user, the comparisoninformation comparing the product information about the product itemwith product information about another product item;

[0064] (e) playing a game associated with the product item; and

[0065] (f) conducting a competition in relation to the product item.

[0066] Preferably, the product information comprises informationrelating to any one of the product item's:

[0067] (a) cost;

[0068] (b) contents;

[0069] (c) weight;

[0070] (d) place of origin;

[0071] (e) manufacturer;

[0072] (f) date of manufacture;

[0073] (g) date of packaging;

[0074] (h) use-by date;

[0075] (i) current owner; and

[0076] (j) dimensions.

[0077] Preferably, the interface surface is selected from the groupcomprising:

[0078] (a) a label;

[0079] (b) a package; and

[0080] (c) a surface of the product item itself.

[0081] Preferably, the coded data is substantially invisible to theaverage unaided human.

[0082] Preferably, the coded data is disposed over a substantial portionof the interface surface. More preferably, the coded data is disposedover more than 20% of the interface surface. Even more preferably, thecoded data is disposed over more than 90% of the interface surface.

[0083] Preferably, the method further comprises identifying, in thecomputer system, that the user has entered handwritten text data bymeans of the sensing device and effecting, in the computer system, anoperation associated with the handwritten text data.

[0084] Preferably, the method includes converting, in the computersystem, the handwritten text data to computer text.

[0085] Preferably, the method further comprises identifying, in thecomputer system, that the user has entered a handwritten signature bymeans of the sensing device and effecting, in the computer system, anoperation associated with the handwritten signature.

[0086] Preferably, the method includes verifying, in the computersystem, that the signature is that of the user.

[0087] Preferably, the operation associated with the handwrittensignature is associated with payment authorization.

[0088] Preferably, the method further comprises identifying, in thecomputer system, that the user has entered a hand-drawn picture by meansof the sensing device and effecting, in the computer system, anoperation associated with the hand-drawn picture.

[0089] Preferably, a portion of the coded data is superimposed with avisual graphic, the visual graphic being at least partially indicative,to the user, of the interaction.

[0090] Preferably, the sensing device contains an identifier whichimparts a unique identity to the sensing device and identifies it asbelonging to the user and in which the method includes monitoring, inthe computer system, the identifier.

[0091] Preferably, the method includes providing all requiredinformation relating to the interaction in the interface surface toeliminate the need for a separate display device.

[0092] In one form, the coded data is disposed on the interface surfacein accordance with a layout, the layout having at least order nrotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layout encoding anorientation codeword comprising a sequence of an integer multiple m of nsymbols, where m is one or more, each encoded symbol being distributedat n locations about a center of rotational symmetry of the layout suchthat decoding the symbols at each of the n orientations of the layoutproduces n representations of the orientation codeword, eachrepresentation comprising a different cyclic shift of the orientationcodeword and being indicative of the degree of rotation of the layout,and wherein the orientation codeword is fault tolerant.

[0093] In another form, the coded data is disposed on the interfacesurface in accordance with a layout, the layout having at least order nrotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layout including nidentical sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a center ofrotational symmetry of the layout, the coded data disposed in accordancewith each sub-layout including rotation-indicating data thatdistinguishes the rotation of that sub-layout from the rotation of atleast one other sub-layout within the layout.

[0094] In a further form, the coded data is disposed on the interfacesurface in accordance with a layout having n-fold rotational symmetry,where n is at least two, the layout including n identical firstsub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a center of rotationalsymmetry of the layout, the coded data disposed in accordance with eachfirst sub-layout including rotation-indicating data that distinguishesthe rotation of that first sub-layout from the rotation of at least oneother first sub-layout within the layout.

[0095] According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there isdisclosed a system for facilitating an interaction between a user and aproduct item, the product item having an identity and the systemincluding:

[0096] a interface surface associated with the product item andcontaining information relating to the product item, the interfacesurface having disposed thereon coded data indicative of the identity ofthe product item and of a plurality of reference points of the interfacesurface; and

[0097] a computer system adapted to facilite the interaction in responseto receiving indicating data from a sensing device, the indicating databeing indicative of the identity of the product item and of a positionof the sensing device relative to the interface surface, the sensingdevice, when placed in an operative position relative to the interfacesurface, sensing at least some of the coded data in the vicinity of thesensing device and generating the indicating data using at least some ofthe sensed coded data.

[0098] Preferably, the interaction is associated with at least one zoneof the interface surface.

[0099] Preferably, the system includes the sensing device, the sensingdevice sensing its movement relative to the interface surface using atleast some of the coded data.

[0100] According to a fifth aspect of the present invention there isdisclosed a system for facilitating an interaction between a user and aproduct item, the product item having an identity and the systemincluding

[0101] an interface surface associated with the product item, theinterface surface containing information relating to the product itemand having disposed thereon coded data indicative of the identity of theproduct item and of a parameter of the interaction; and

[0102] a computer system for receiving, from a sensing device,indicating data regarding the identity of both the product item and theparameter of the interaction, and movement data regarding movement ofthe sensing device relative to the interface surface, and forinterpreting the movement of the sensing device as it relates to theinteraction, the sensing device, when moved relative to the interfacesurface, sensing at least some of the coded data and generating theindicating data and the movement data using at least some of the sensedcoded data.

[0103] According to a sixth aspect of the present invention there isdisclosed a system for facilitating an interaction between a user and aproduct item, the product item having an identity and the systemincluding:

[0104] a interface surface associated with the product item, theinterface surface containing information relating to the product itemand having disposed thereon coded data indicative of the identity of theproduct item; and

[0105] a computer system adapted to receive from a sensing device userdata regarding an identity of the user and indicating data regarding theidentity of the product item, and for facilitating, with reference tothe user data and the indicating data, the interaction between the userand the product item, the sensing device containing the user data and,when placed in an operative position relative to the interface surface,sensing at least some of the coded data in the vicinity of the sensingdevice and generating the indicating data using at least some of thesensed coded data.

[0106] Preferably, the coded data is also indicative of a parameter ofthe interaction, the computer system receiving indicating data from thesensing device regarding the parameter of the interaction, and thesensing device generating the indicating data using at least some of thecoded data.

[0107] Preferably, the system includes the sensing device, the sensingdevice sensing its movement relative to the interface surface.

[0108] Preferably, the interaction is selected from the groupcomprising:

[0109] (a) providing product information about the product item to theuser;

[0110] (b) recording a purchase transaction relating to the productitem;

[0111] (c) recording a potential purchase transaction relating to theproduct item;

[0112] (d) providing comparison information to the user, the comparisoninformation comparing the product information about the product itemwith product information about another product item;

[0113] (e) playing a game associated with the product item; and

[0114] (f) conducting a competition in relation to the product item.

[0115] Preferably, the product information comprises informationrelating to any one of the product item's:

[0116] (a) cost;

[0117] (b) contents;

[0118] (c) weight;

[0119] (d) place of origin;

[0120] (e) manufacturer;

[0121] (f) date of manufacture;

[0122] (g) date of packaging;

[0123] (h) use-by date;

[0124] (i) current owner; and

[0125] (j) dimensions.

[0126] Preferably, the interface surface is selected from the groupcomprising:

[0127] (a) a label;

[0128] (b) a package; and

[0129] (c) a surface of the product item itself.

[0130] Preferably, the coded data is substantially invisible to theaverage unaided human.

[0131] Preferably, the coded data is disposed over a substantial portionof the interface surface. More preferably, the coded data is disposedover more than 20% of the interface surface. Even more preferably, thecoded data is disposed over more than 90% of the interface surface.

[0132] Preferably, the sensing device includes a marking nib.

[0133] Preferably, the sensing device contains an identifier whichimparts a unique identity to the sensing device and identifies it asbelonging to the user.

[0134] In one form, the coded data is disposed on the interface surfacein accordance with a layout, the layout having at least order nrotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layout encoding anorientation codeword comprising a sequence of an integer multiple m of nsymbols, where m is one or more, each encoded symbol being distributedat n locations about a center of rotational symmetry of the layout suchthat decoding the symbols at each of the n orientations of the layoutproduces n representations of the orientation codeword, eachrepresentation comprising a different cyclic shift of the orientationcodeword and being indicative of the degree of rotation of the layout,and wherein the orientation codeword is fault tolerant.

[0135] In another form, the coded data is disposed on the interfacesurface in accordance with a layout, the layout having at least order nrotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layout including nidentical sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a center ofrotational symmetry of the layout, the coded data disposed in accordancewith each sub-layout including rotation-indicating data thatdistinguishes the rotation of that sub-layout from the rotation of atleast one other sub-layout within the layout.

[0136] In a further form, the coded data is disposed on the interfacesurface in accordance with a layout having n-fold rotational symmetry,where n is at least two, the layout including n identical firstsub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a center of rotationalsymmetry of the layout, the coded data disposed in accordance with eachfirst sub-lay-out including rotation-indicating data that distinguishesthe rotation of that first sub-layout from the rotation of at least oneother first sub-layout within the layout.

[0137] According to a seventh aspect of the present invention there isdisclosed an interactive product item adapted for interaction with auser via a sensing device and a computer system, and comprising:

[0138] a product item having an identity;

[0139] an interface surface associated with the product item and havingdisposed thereon information relating to the product item and coded dataindicative of the identity of the product item.

[0140] Preferably, the coded data is further indicative of a pluralityof reference points of the interface surface.

[0141] Preferably, the coded data is further indicative of a parameterof an interaction.

[0142] Preferably, the interface surface is selected from the groupcomprising:

[0143] (a) a label;

[0144] (b) a package; and

[0145] (c) a surface of the product item itself.

[0146] Preferably, the coded data is disposed on the interface surfacein accordance with a layout, the layout having at least order nrotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layout encoding anorientation codeword comprising a sequence of an integer multiple m of nsymbols, where m is one or more, each encoded symbol being distributedat n locations about a center of rotational symmetry of the layout suchthat decoding the symbols at each of the n orientations of the layoutproduces n representations of the orientation codeword, eachrepresentation comprising a different cyclic shift of the orientationcodeword and being indicative of the degree of rotation of the layout,and wherein the orientation codeword is fault tolerant.

[0147] Alternatively, the coded data is disposed on the interfacesurface in accordance with a layout, the layout having at least order nrotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layout including nidentical sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a center ofrotational symmetry of the layout, the coded data disposed in accordancewith each sub-layout including rotation-indicating data thatdistinguishes the rotation of that sub-layout from the rotation of atleast one other sub-layout within the layout.

[0148] In another form, the coded data is disposed on the interfacesurface in accordance with a layout having n-fold rotational symmetry,where n is at least two, the layout including n identical firstsub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a center of rotationalsymmetry of the layout, the coded data disposed in accordance with eachfirst sub-layout including rotation-indicating data that distinguishesthe rotation of that first sub-layout from the rotation of at least oneother first sub-layout within the layout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0149] Preferred and other embodiments of the invention will now bedescribed, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

[0150]FIG. 1 is a schematic of a the relationship between a sampleprinted netpage and its online page description;

[0151]FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a interaction between a netpage pen,a Web terminal, a netpage printer, a netpage relay, a netpage pageserver, and a netpage application server, and a Web server;

[0152]FIG. 3 illustrates a collection of netpage servers, Web terminals,printers and relays interconnected via a network;

[0153]FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a high-level structure of a printednetpage and its online page description;

[0154]FIG. 5a is a plan view showing the interleaving and rotation ofthe symbols of four codewords of the tag;

[0155]FIG. 5b is a plan view showing a macrodot layout for the tag shownin FIG. 5a;

[0156]FIG. 5c is a plan view showing an arrangement of nine of the tagsshown in FIGS. 5a and 5 b, in which targets are shared between adjacenttags;

[0157]FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a relationship between a set of thetags shown in FIG. 6a and a field of view of a netpage sensing device inthe form of a netpage pen;

[0158]FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a tag image processing and decodingalgorithm;

[0159]FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a netpage pen and its associatedtag-sensing field-of-view cone;

[0160]FIG. 9 is a perspective exploded view of the netpage pen shown inFIG. 8;

[0161]FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a pen controller for thenetpage pen shown in FIGS. 8 and 9;

[0162]FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a wall-mounted netpage printer;

[0163]FIG. 12 is a section through the length of the netpage printer ofFIG. 11;

[0164]FIG. 12a is an enlarged portion of FIG. 12 showing a section ofthe duplexed print engines and glue wheel assembly;

[0165]FIG. 13 is a detailed view of the ink cartridge, ink, air and gluepaths, and print engines of the netpage printer of FIGS. 11 and 12;

[0166]FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram of a printer controller forthe netpage printer shown in FIGS. 11 and 12;

[0167]FIG. 15 is a schematic block diagram of duplexed print enginecontrollers and Memjet™ printheads associated with the printercontroller shown in FIG. 14;

[0168]FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram of the print enginecontroller shown in FIGS. 14 and 15;

[0169]FIG. 17 is a perspective view of a single Memjet™ printingelement, as used in, for example, the netpage printer of FIGS. 10 to 12;

[0170]FIG. 18 is a schematic view of the structure of an item ID;

[0171]FIG. 19 is a schematic view of the structure of an omnitag;

[0172]FIG. 20 is a schematic view of a product item and object ownershipand packaging hierarchy class diagram;

[0173]FIG. 21 is a schematic view of a user class diagram;

[0174]FIG. 22 is a schematic view of a printer class diagram;

[0175]FIG. 23 is a schematic view of a pen class diagram;

[0176]FIG. 24 is a schematic view of an application class diagram;

[0177]FIG. 25 is a schematic view of a document and page descriptionclass diagram;

[0178]FIG. 26 is a schematic view of a document and page ownership classdiagram;

[0179]FIG. 27 is a schematic view of a terminal element specializationclass diagram;

[0180]FIG. 28 is a schematic view of a static element specializationclass diagram;

[0181]FIG. 29 is a schematic view of a hyperlink element class diagram;

[0182]FIG. 30 is a schematic view of a hyperlink element specializationclass diagram;

[0183]FIG. 31 is a schematic view of a hyperlinked group class diagram;

[0184]FIG. 32 is a schematic view of a form class diagram;

[0185]FIG. 33 is a schematic view of a digital ink class diagram;

[0186]FIG. 34 is a schematic view of a field element specializationclass diagram;

[0187]FIG. 35 is a schematic view of a checkbox field class diagram;

[0188]FIG. 36 is a schematic view of a text field class diagram;

[0189]FIG. 37 is a schematic view of a signature field class diagram;

[0190]FIG. 38 is a flowchart of an input processing algorithm;

[0191]FIG. 38a is a detailed flowchart of one step of the flowchart ofFIG. 38;

[0192]FIG. 39 is a schematic view of a page server command element classdiagram;

[0193]FIG. 40 is a schematic view of a subscription delivery protocol;

[0194]FIG. 41 is a schematic view of a hyperlink request class diagram;

[0195]FIG. 42 is a schematic view of a hyperlink activation protocol;

[0196]FIG. 43 is a schematic view of a form submission protocol;

[0197]FIG. 44 shows a triangular macrodot packing with a four-bit symbolunit out-lined, for use with an embodiment of the invention;

[0198]FIG. 45 shows a square macrodot packing with a four-bit symbolunit outlined, for use with an embodiment of the invention such as thatdescribed in relation to FIGS. 5a to 5 c;

[0199]FIG. 46 shows a one-sixth segment of an hexagonal tag, with thesegment containing a maximum of 11 four-bit symbols with the triangularmacrodot packing shown in FIG. 44;

[0200]FIG. 47 shows a one-quarter segment of a square tag, with thesegment containing a maximum of 15 four-bit symbols with the squaremacrodot packing shown in FIG. 45;

[0201]FIG. 48 shows a logical layout of a hexagonal tag using the tagsegment of FIG. 47, with six interleaved 2⁴-ary (11, k) codewords;

[0202]FIG. 49 shows the macrodot layout of the hexagonal tag of FIG. 48;

[0203]FIG. 50 shows an arrangement of seven abutting tags of the designof FIGS. 48 and 49, with shared targets;

[0204]FIG. 51 shows a logical layout of an alternative hexagonal tagusing the tag segment of FIG. 47, with three interleaved 2⁴-ary (9, k)codewords and three interleaved three-symbol fragments of threedistributed 2⁴-ary (9, k) codewords;

[0205]FIG. 52 shows the logical layout of an orientation-indicatingcyclic position codeword of the hexagonal tag of FIG. 51;

[0206]FIG. 53 shows three adjacent tags of type P, Q and R, each withthe layout of the tag of FIG. 51, containing a complete set ofdistributed codewords;

[0207]FIG. 54 shows the logical layout of yet another alternativehexagonal tag using the tag segment of FIG. 47, with one local 2⁴-ary(12, k) codeword, interleaved with eighteen 3-symbol fragments ofeighteen distributed 2⁴-ary (9, k) codewords;

[0208]FIG. 55 shows the logical layout of the hexagonal tag of FIG. 54,re-arranged to show the distributed 3-symbol fragments which contributeto the same codewords;

[0209]FIG. 56 is a schematic view of a physical product item and itsonline description; and

[0210]FIG. 57 is a schematic view of the interaction between a productitem, a fixed product scanner, a hand-held product scanner, a scannerrelay, a product server, and a product application server.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND OTHER EMBODIMENTS

[0211] Note: Memjet™ is a trade mark of Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd,Australia.

[0212] In the preferred embodiment, the invention is configured to workwith the netpage networked computer system, a detailed overview of whichfollows. It will be appreciated that not every implementation willnecessarily embody all or even most of the specific details andextensions discussed below in relation to the basic system. However, thesystem is described in its most complete form to reduce the need forexternal reference when attempting to understand the context in whichthe preferred embodiments and aspects of the present invention operate.

[0213] In brief summary, the preferred form of the netpage systememploys a computer interface in the form of a mapped surface, that is, aphysical surface which contains references to a map of the surfacemaintained in a computer system. The map references can be queried by anappropriate sensing device. Depending upon the specific implementation,the map references may be encoded visibly or invisibly, and defined insuch a way that a local query on the mapped surface yields anunambiguous map reference both within the map and among different maps.The computer system can contain information about features on the mappedsurface, and such information can be retrieved based on map referencessupplied by a sensing device used with the mapped surface. Theinformation thus retrieved can take the form of actions which areinitiated by the computer system on behalf of the operator in responseto the operator's interaction with the surface features.

[0214] In its preferred form, the netpage system relies on theproduction of, and human interaction with, netpages. These are pages oftext, graphics and images printed on ordinary paper, but which work likeinteractive web pages. Information is encoded on each page using inkwhich is substantially invisible to the unaided human eye. The ink,however, and thereby the coded data, can be sensed by an opticallyimaging pen and transmitted to the netpage system.

[0215] In the preferred form, active buttons and hyperlinks on each pagecan be clicked with the pen to request information from the network orto signal preferences to a network server. In one embodiment, textwritten by hand on a netpage is automatically recognized and convertedto computer text in the netpage system, allowing forms to be filled in.In other embodiments, signatures recorded on a netpage are automaticallyverified, allowing e-commerce transactions to be securely authorized.

[0216] As illustrated in FIG. 1, a printed netpage 1 can represent ainteractive form which can be filled in by the user both physically, onthe printed page, and “electronically”, via communication between thepen and the netpage system. The example shows a “Request” formcontaining name and address fields and a submit button. The netpageconsists of graphic data 2 printed using visible ink, and coded data 3printed as a collection of tags 4 using invisible ink. The correspondingpage description 5, stored on the netpage network, describes theindividual elements of the netpage. In particular it describes the typeand spatial extent (zone) of each interactive element (i.e. text fieldor button in the example), to allow the netpage system to correctlyinterpret input via the netpage. The submit button 6, for example, has azone 7 which corresponds to the spatial extent of the correspondinggraphic 8.

[0217] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the netpage pen 101, a preferred formof which is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 and described in more detail below,works in conjunction with a personal computer (PC), Web terminal 75, ora netpage printer 601. The netpage printer is an Internet-connectedprinting appliance for home, office or mobile use. The pen is wirelessand communicates securely with the netpage network via a short-rangeradio link 9. Short-range communication is relayed to the netpagenetwork by a local relay function which is either embedded in the PC,Web terminal or netpage printer, or is provided by a separate relaydevice 44. The relay function can also be provided by a mobile phone orother device which incorporates both short-range and longer-rangecommunications functions.

[0218] In an alternative embodiment, the netpage pen utilises a wiredconnection, such as a USB or other serial connection, to the PC, Webterminal, netpage printer or relay device.

[0219] The netpage printer 601, a preferred form of which is shown inFIGS. 11 to 13 and described in more detail below, is able to deliver,periodically or on demand, personalized newspapers, magazines, catalogs,brochures and other publications, all printed at high quality asinteractive netpages. Unlike a personal computer, the netpage printer isan appliance which can be, for example, wall-mounted adjacent to an areawhere the morning news is first consumed, such as in a user's kitchen,near a breakfast table, or near the household's point of departure forthe day. It also comes in tabletop, desktop, portable and miniatureversions.

[0220] Netpages printed at their point of consumption combine theease-of-use of paper with the timeliness and interactivity of aninteractive medium.

[0221] As shown in FIG. 2, the netpage pen 101 interacts with the codeddata on a printed netpage 1 (or product item 201) and communicates theinteraction via a short-range radio link 9 to a relay. The relay sendsthe interaction to the relevant netpage page server 10 forinterpretation. In appropriate circumstances, the page server sends acorresponding message to application computer software running on anetpage application server 13. The application server may in turn send aresponse which is printed on the originating printer.

[0222] In an alternative embodiment, the PC, Web terminal, netpageprinter or relay device may communicate directly with local or remoteapplication software, including a local or remote Web server. Relatedly,output is not limited to being printed by the netpage printer. It canalso be displayed on the PC or Web terminal, and further interaction canbe screen-based rather than paper-based, or a mixture of the two.

[0223] The netpage system is made considerably more convenient in thepreferred embodiment by being used in conjunction with high-speedmicroelectromechanical system (MEMS) based inkjet (Memjet™) printers. Inthe preferred form of this technology, relatively high-speed andhigh-quality printing is made more affordable to consumers. In itspreferred form, a netpage publication has the physical characteristicsof a traditional news-magazine, such as a set of letter-size glossypages printed in full color on both sides, bound together for easynavigation and comfortable handling.

[0224] The netpage printer exploits the growing availability ofbroadband Internet access. Cable service is available to 95% ofhouseholds in the United States, and cable modem service offeringbroadband Internet access is already available to 20% of these. Thenetpage printer can also operate with slower connections, but withlonger delivery times and lower image quality. Indeed, the netpagesystem can be enabled using existing consumer inkjet and laser printers,although the system will operate more slowly and will therefore be lessacceptable from a consumer's point of view. In other embodiments, thenetpage system is hosted on a private intranet. In still otherembodiments, the netpage system is hosted on a single computer orcomputer-enabled device, such as a printer.

[0225] Netpage publication servers 14 on the netpage network areconfigured to deliver print-quality publications to netpage printers.Periodical publications are delivered automatically to subscribingnetpage printers via pointcasting and multicasting Internet protocols.Personalized publications are filtered and formatted according toindividual user profiles.

[0226] A netpage printer can be configured to support any number ofpens, and a pen can work with any number of netpage printers. In thepreferred implementation, each netpage pen has a unique identifier. Ahousehold may have a collection of colored netpage pens, one assigned toeach member of the family. This allows each user to maintain a distinctprofile with respect to a netpage publication server or applicationserver.

[0227] A netpage pen can also be registered with a netpage registrationserver 11 and linked to one or more payment card accounts. This allowse-commerce payments to be securely authorized using the netpage pen. Thenetpage registration server compares the signature captured by thenetpage pen with a previously registered signature, allowing it toauthenticate the user's identity to an e-commerce server. Otherbiometrics can also be used to verify identity. A version of the netpagepen includes fingerprint scanning, verified in a similar way by thenetpage registration server.

[0228] Although a netpage printer may deliver periodicals such as themorning newspaper without user intervention, it can be configured neverto deliver unsolicited junk mail. In its preferred form, it onlydelivers periodicals from subscribed or otherwise authorized sources. Inthis respect, the netpage printer is unlike a fax machine or e-mailaccount which is visible to any junk mailer who knows the telephonenumber or email address.

[0229] 1 Netpage System Architecture

[0230] Each object model in the system is described using a UnifiedModeling Language (UML) class diagram. A class diagram consists of a setof object classes connected by relationships, and two kinds ofrelationships are of interest here: associations and generalizations. Anassociation represents some kind of relationship between objects, i.e.between instances of classes. A generalization relates actual classes,and can be understood in the following way: if a class is thought of asthe set of all objects of that class, and class A is a generalization ofclass B, then B is simply a subset of A. The UML does not directlysupport second-order modelling—i.e. classes of classes.

[0231] Each class is drawn as a rectangle labelled with the name of theclass. It contains a list of the attributes of the class, separated fromthe name by a horizontal line, and a list of the operations of theclass, separated from the attribute list by a horizontal line. In theclass diagrams which follow, however, operations are never modelled.

[0232] An association is drawn as a line joining two classes, optionallylabelled at either end with the multiplicity of the association. Thedefault multiplicity is one. An asterisk (*) indicates a multiplicity of“many”, i.e. zero or more. Each association is optionally labelled withits name, and is also optionally labelled at either end with the role ofthe corresponding class. An open diamond indicates an aggregationassociation (“is-part-of”), and is drawn at the aggregator end of theassociation line.

[0233] A generalization relationship (“is-a”) is drawn as a solid linejoining two classes, with an arrow (in the form of an open triangle) atthe generalization end.

[0234] When a class diagram is broken up into multiple diagrams, anyclass which is duplicated is shown with a dashed outline in all but themain diagram which defines it. It is shown with attributes only where itis defined.

[0235] 1.1Netpages

[0236] Netpages are the foundation on which a netpage network is built.They provide a paper-based user interface to published information andinteractive services.

[0237] A netpage consists of a printed page (or other surface region)invisibly tagged with references to an online description of the page.The online page description is maintained persistently by a netpage pageserver. The page description describes the visible layout and content ofthe page, including text, graphics and images. It also describes theinput elements on the page, including buttons, hyperlinks, and inputfields. A netpage allows markings made with a netpage pen on its surfaceto be simultaneously captured and processed by the netpage system.

[0238] Multiple netpages can share the same page description. However,to allow input through otherwise identical pages to be distinguished,each netpage is assigned a unique page identifier. This page ID hassufficient precision to distinguish between a very large number ofnetpages.

[0239] Each reference to the page description is encoded in a printedtag. The tag identifies the unique page on which it appears, and therebyindirectly identifies the page description. The tag also identifies itsown position on the page. Characteristics of the tags are described inmore detail below.

[0240] Tags are printed in infrared-absorptive ink on any substratewhich is infrared-reflective, such as ordinary paper. Near-infraredwavelengths are invisible to the human eye but are easily sensed by asolid-state image sensor with an appropriate filter.

[0241] A tag is sensed by an area image sensor in the netpage pen, andthe tag data is transmitted to the netpage system via the nearestnetpage printer. The pen is wireless and communicates with the netpageprinter via a short-range radio link. Tags are sufficiently small anddensely arranged that the pen can reliably image at least one tag evenon a single click on the page. It is important that the pen recognizethe page ID and position on every interaction with the page, since theinteraction is stateless. Tags are error-correctably encoded to makethem partially tolerant to surface damage.

[0242] The netpage page server maintains a unique page instance for eachprinted netpage, allowing it to maintain a distinct set of user-suppliedvalues for input fields in the page description for each printednetpage.

[0243] The relationship between the page description, the page instance,and the printed netpage is shown in FIG. 4. The printed netpage may bepart of a printed netpage document 45. The page instance is associatedwith both the netpage printer which printed it and, if known, thenetpage user who requested it.

[0244] As shown in FIG. 4, one or more netpages may also be associatedwith a physical object such as a product item, for example when printedonto the product item's label, packaging, or actual surface.

[0245] 1.2 Netpage Tags

[0246] 1.2.1 Tag Data Content

[0247] In a preferred form, each tag identifies the region in which itappears, and the location of that tag within the region. A tag may alsocontain flags which relate to the region as a whole or to the tag. Oneor more flag bits may, for example, signal a tag sensing device toprovide feedback indicative of a function associated with the immediatearea of the tag, without the sensing device having to refer to adescription of the region. A netpage pen may, for example, illuminate an“active area” LED when in the zone of a hyperlink.

[0248] As will be more clearly explained below, in a preferredembodiment, each tag contains an easily recognized invariant structurewhich aids initial detection, and which assists in minimizing the effectof any warp induced by the surface or by the sensing process. The tagspreferably tile the entire page, and are sufficiently small and denselyarranged that the pen can reliably image at least one tag even on asingle click on the page. It is important that the pen recognize thepage ID and position on every interaction with the page, since theinteraction is stateless.

[0249] In a preferred embodiment, the region to which a tag referscoincides with an entire page, and the region ID encoded in the tag istherefore synonymous with the page ID of the page on which the tagappears. In other embodiments, the region to which a tag refers can bean arbitrary subregion of a page or other surface. For example, it cancoincide with the zone of an interactive element, in which case theregion ID can directly identify the interactive element.

[0250] In the preferred form, each tag contains 120 bits of information.The region ID is typically allocated up to 100 bits, the tag ID at least16 bits, and the remaining bits are allocated to flags etc. Assuming atag density of 64 per square inch, a 16-bit tag ID supports a regionsize of up to 1024 square inches. Larger regions can be mappedcontinuously without increasing the tag ID precision simply by usingabutting regions and maps. The 100-bit region ID allows 2¹⁰⁰ (˜10³⁰ or amillion trillion trillion) different regions to be uniquely identified.

[0251] 1.2.2 Tag Data Encoding

[0252] In one embodiment, the 120 bits of tag data are redundantlyencoded using a (15, 5) Reed-Solomon code. This yields 360 encoded bitsconsisting of 6 codewords of 15 4-bit symbols each. The (15, 5) codeallows up to 5 symbol errors to be corrected per codeword, i.e. it istolerant of a symbol error rate of up to 33% per codeword.

[0253] Each 4-bit symbol is represented in a spatially coherent way inthe tag, and the symbols of the six codewords are interleaved spatiallywithin the tag. This ensures that a burst error (an error affectingmultiple spatially adjacent bits) damages a minimum number of symbolsoverall and a minimum number of symbols in any one codeword, thusmaximising the likelihood that the burst error can be fully corrected.

[0254] Any suitable error-correcting code code can be used in place of a(15, 5) Reed-Solomon code, for example: a Reed-Solomon code with more orless redundancy, with the same or different symbol and codeword sizes;another block code; or a different kind of code, such as a convolutionalcode (see, for example, Stephen B. Wicker, Error Control Systems forDigital Communication and Storage, Prentice-Hall 1995, the contents ofwhich a herein incorporated by reference thereto).

[0255] In order to support “single-click” interaction with a taggedregion via a sensing device, the sensing device must be able to see atleast one entire tag in its field of view no matter where in the regionor at what orientation it is positioned. The required diameter of thefield of view of the sensing device is therefore a function of the sizeand spacing of the tags.

[0256] 1.2.3 Tag Structure

[0257]FIG. 5a shows a tag 4, in the form of tag 726 with fourperspective targets 17. The tag 726 represents sixty 4-bit Reed-Solomonsymbols 747 (see description of FIGS. 44 to 46 below for discussion ofsymbols), for a total of 240 bits. The tag represents each “one” bit bythe presence of a mark 748, referred to as a macrodot, and each “zero”bit by the absence of the corresponding macrodot. FIG. 5c shows a squaretiling 728 of nine tags, containing all “one” bits for illustrativepurposes. It will be noted that the perspective targets are designed tobe shared between adjacent tags. FIG. 6 shows a square tiling of 16 tagsand a corresponding minimum field of view 193, which spans the diagonalsof two tags.

[0258] Using a (15, 7) Reed-Solomon code, 112 bits of tag data areredundantly encoded to produce 240 encoded bits. The four codewords areinterleaved spatially within the tag to maximize resilience to bursterrors. Assuming a 16-bit tag ID as before, this allows a region ID ofup to 92 bits.

[0259] The data-bearing macrodots 748 of the tag are designed to notoverlap their neighbors, so that groups of tags cannot producestructures that resemble targets. This also saves ink. The perspectivetargets allow detection of the tag, so further targets are not required.

[0260] Although the tag may contain an orientation feature to allowdisambiguation of the four possible orientations of the tag relative tothe sensor, the present invention is concerned with embeddingorientation data in the tag data. For example, the four codewords can bearranged so that each tag orientation (in a rotational sense) containsone codeword placed at that orientation, as shown in FIG. 5a, where eachsymbol is labelled with the number of its codeword (1-4) and theposition of the symbol within the codeword (A-O). Tag decoding thenconsists of decoding one codeword at each rotational orientation. Eachcodeword can either contain a single bit indicating whether it is thefirst codeword, or two bits indicating which codeword it is. The latterapproach has the advantage that if, say, the data content of only onecodeword is required, then at most two codewords need to be decoded toobtain the desired data. This may be the case if the region ID is notexpected to change within a stroke and is thus only decoded at the startof a stroke. Within a stroke only the codeword containing the tag ID isthen desired. Furthermore, since the rotation of the sensing devicechanges slowly and predictably within a stroke, only one codewordtypically needs to be decoded per frame.

[0261] It is possible to dispense with perspective targets altogetherand instead rely on the data representation being self-registering. Inthis case each bit value (or multi-bit value) is typically representedby an explicit glyph, i.e. no bit value is represented by the absence ofa glyph. This ensures that the data grid is well-populated, and thusallows the grid to be reliably identified and its perspective distortiondetected and subsequently corrected during data sampling. To allow tagboundaries to be detected, each tag data must contain a marker pattern,and these must be redundantly encoded to allow reliable detection. Theoverhead of such marker patterns is similar to the overhead of explicitperspective targets. Various such schemes are described in the presentapplicants' co-pending PCT application PCT/AU 01/01274 filed Oct. 11,2001.

[0262] The arrangement 728 of FIG. 5c shows that the square tag 726 canbe used to fully tile or tesselate, i.e. without gaps or overlap, aplane of arbitrary size.

[0263] Although in preferred embodiments the tagging schemes describedherein encode a single data bit using the presence or absence of asingle undifferentiated macrodot, they can also use sets ofdifferentiated glyphs to represent single-bit or multi-bit values, suchas the sets of glyphs illustrated in the present applicants' co-pendingPCT application PCT/AU01/01274 filed Oct. 11, 2001.

[0264] 1.2.4.1 Macrodot Packing Schemes

[0265]FIG. 44 shows a triangular macrodot packing 700 with a four-bitsymbol unit 702 outlined. The area of the symbol unit is given byA_(UNIT)=2{square root}{square root over (3)}s²≅3.5s², where s thespacing of adjacent macrodots. FIG. 45 shows a square macrodot packing704 with a four-bit symbol unit 706 outlined. The area of the symbolunit is given by A_(UNIT)=4s² . FIG. 46 shows a hexagonal macrodotpacking 708 with a four-bit symbol unit 710 out-lined. The area of thesymbol unit is given by A_(UNIT)=3{square root}{square root over(3)}s²≅5.2s². Of these packing schemes, the triangular packing schemegives the greatest macrodot density for a particular macrodot spacing s.

[0266] In preferred embodiments, s has a value between 100 μm and 200μm.

[0267] 1.2.4.2 Tag Designs

[0268]FIG. 46 shows a one-sixth segment 712 of a hexagonal tag, with thesegment containing a maximum of 11 four-bit symbols with the triangularmacrodot packing shown in FIG. 44. The target 17 is shared with adjacentsegments. Each tag segment can, by way of example, support a codeword ofan (11, k) Reed-Solomon code, i.e. a punctured (15, k) code, with theability to detect u=11−k symbol errors, or correct t=└(11−k)/2┘ symbolerrors. For example, if k=7 then u=4 and t=2.

[0269]FIG. 47 shows a one-quarter segment 718 of a square tag, with thesegment containing a maximum of 15 four-bit symbols with the squaremacrodot packing shown in FIG. 45. Each tag segment can, by way ofexample, support a codeword of a (15, k) Reed-Solomon code, with theability to detect u=15−k symbol errors, or correct t=└(15−k)/2┘ symbolerrors. For example, if k=7 then u=8 and t=4.

[0270] 1.2.4.3 Hexagonal Tag Design

[0271]FIG. 48 shows a logical layout of a hexagonal tag 722 using thetag segment 712 of FIG. 46, with six interleaved 2⁴-ary (11, k)codewords. FIG. 49 shows the macrodot layout of the hexagonal tag 722 ofFIG. 51. FIG. 53 shows an arrangement 724 of seven abutting tags 722 ofthe design of FIG. 48, with shared targets 17. The arrangement 724 showsthat the hexagonal tag 722 can be used to tesselate a plane of arbitrarysize.

[0272] 1.2.4.4 Alternative Hexagonal Tag Design 1

[0273]FIG. 51 shows the logical layout of an alternative hexagonal tag.This tag design is described in detail in the present applicants'co-filed U.S. application Ser. No. __/____ entitled“Orientation-Indicating Cyclic Position Codes” (docket number NPT019US).

[0274] The tag contains a 2⁴-ary (6, 1) cyclic position codeword (0, 5,6, 9, A₁₆, F₁₆) which can be decoded at any of the six possibleorientations of the tag to determine the actual orientation of the tag.Symbols which are part of the cyclic position codeword have a prefix of“R” and are numbered 0 to 5 in order of increasing significance, and areshown shaded in FIG. 52.

[0275] The tag locally contains three complete codewords which are usedto encode information unique to the tag. Each codeword is of a punctured2⁴-ary (9, 5) Reed-Solomon code. The tag therefore encodes up to 60 bitsof information unique to the tag. The tag also contains fragments ofthree codewords which are distributed across three adjacent tags andwhich are used to encode information common to a set of contiguous tags.Each codeword is of a punctured 2⁴-ary (9, 5) Reed-Solomon code. Anythree adjacent tags therefore together encode up to 60 bits ofinformation common to a set of contiguous tags.

[0276] The layout of the three complete codewords, distributed acrossthree adjacent tags, is shown in FIG. 53. In relation to thesedistributed codewords there are three types of tag. These are referredto as P, Q and R in order of increasing significance.

[0277] The P, Q and R tags are repeated in a continuous tiling of tagswhich guarantees the any set of three adjacent tags contains one tag ofeach type, and therefore contains a complete set of distributedcodewords. The tag type, used to determine the registration of thedistributed codewords with respect to a particular set of adjacent tags,is encoded in one of the local codewords of each tag.

[0278] 1.2.4.4 Alternative Hexagonal Tag Design 2

[0279]FIG. 54 shows the logical layout of another alternative hexagonaltag. This tag design is described in detail in the present applicants'co-filed U.S. application Ser. No. __/____ entitled “Symmetric Tags”(docket number NPT023US).

[0280]FIG. 54 shows a logical layout of a hexagonal tag 750 using thetag segment of FIG. 46, with one local 2⁴-ary (12, k) codewordinterleaved with eighteen 3-symbol fragments of eighteen distributed2⁴-ary (9, k) codewords.

[0281] In the layout of FIG. 54, the twelve 4-bit symbols of the localcodeword are labelled G1 through G12, and are shown with a dashedoutline. Each symbol of the eighteen fragments of the eighteendistributed codewords is labelled with an initial prefix of A through F,indicating which of six nominal codewords the symbol belongs to, asubsequent prefix of S through U, indicating which 3-symbol part of thecodeword the symbol belongs to, and a suffix of 1 through 3, indicatingwhich of the three possible symbols the symbol is.

[0282] Tag 750 is structured so that the minimal field of view allowsthe recovery of the local codeword G of at least one tag, and the entireset of distributed codewords AP through FR via fragments of tags of typeP, Q and R included in the field of view. Furthermore, the continuoustiling of tag 750 ensures that there is a codeword available with aknown layout for each possible rotational and translational combination(of which there are eighteen). Each distributed codeword includes datawhich identifies the rotation of the codeword in relation to the tiling,thus allowing the rotation of the tiling with respect to the field ofview to be determined from decoded data rather than from otherstructures, and the local codeword to be decoded at the correctorientation.

[0283]FIG. 55 shows the logical layout of the hexagonal tag 750 of FIG.54, re-arranged to show the distributed 3-symbol fragments whichcontribute to the same codewords. For example, if the central tag shownin FIG. 54 were a P-type tag, then the six distributed codewords shownin the figure would be the AP, BP, CP, DP, EP and FP codewords. FIG. 55also shows the local G codeword of the tag. Clearly, given thedistributed and repeating nature of the distributed codewords, differentfragments from the ones shown in the figure can be used to build thecorresponding codewords.

[0284] 1.2.4 Tag Image Processing and Decoding

[0285]FIG. 7 shows a tag image processing and decoding process flow. Araw image 202 of the tag pattern is acquired (at 200), for example viaan image sensor such as a CCD image sensor, CMOS image sensor, or ascanning laser and photodiode image sensor. The raw image is thentypically enhanced (at 204) to produce an enhanced image 206 withimproved contrast and more uniform pixel intensities. Image enhancementmay include global or local range expansion, equalisation, and the like.The enhanced image 206 is then typically filtered (at 208) to produce afiltered image 210. Image filtering may consist of low-pass filtering,with the low-pass filter kernel size tuned to obscure macrodots but topreserve targets. The filtering step 208 may include additionalfiltering (such as edge detection) to enhance target features. Thefiltered image 210 is then processed to locate target features (at 212),yielding a set of target points. This may consist of a search for targetfeatures whose spatial inter-relationship is consistent with the knowngeometry of a tag. Candidate targets may be identified directly frommaxima in the filtered image 210, or may the subject of furthercharacterisation and matching, such as via their (binary or grayscale)shape moments (typically computed from pixels in the enhanced image 206based on local maxima in the filtered image 210), as described in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/575,154. The search typically starts fromthe center of the field of view. The target points 214 found by thesearch step 212 indirectly identify the location of the tag in thethree-dimensional space occupied by the image sensor and its associatedoptics. Since the target points 214 are derived from the (binary orgrayscale) centroids of the targets, they are typically defined tosub-pixel precision.

[0286] It may be useful to determine the actual 3D transform of the tag(at 216), and, by extension, the 3D transform (or pose) 218 of thesensing device relative to the tag. This may be done analytically, asdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/575,154, or using amaximum likelihood estimator (such as least squares adjustment) to fitparameter values to the 3D transform given the observedperspective-distorted target points (as described in P. R. Wolf and B.A. Dewitt, Elements of Photogrammetry with Applications in GIS, 3rdEdition, McGraw Hill, February 2000, the contents of which are hereinincorporated by reference thereto). The 3D transform includes the 3Dtranslation of the tag, the 3D orientation (rotation) of the tag, andthe focal length and viewport scale of the sensing device, thus givingeight parameters to be fitted, or six parameters if the focal length andviewport scale are known (e.g. by design or from a calibration step).Each target point yields a pair of observation equations, relating anobserved coordinate to a known coordinate. If eight parameters are beingfitted, then five or more target points are needed to provide sufficientredundancy to allow maximum likelihood estimation. If six parameters arebeing fitted, then four or more target points are needed. If the tagdesign contains more targets than are minimally required to allowmaximum likelihood estimation, then the tag can be recognised anddecoded even if up to that many of its targets are damaged beyondrecognition.

[0287] To allow macrodot values to be sampled accurately, theperspective transform of the tag must be inferred. Four of the targetpoints are taken to be the perspective-distorted corners of a rectangleof known size in tag space, and the eight-degree-of-freedom perspectivetransform 222 is inferred (at 220), based on solving the well-understoodequations relating the four tag-space and image-space point pairs (seeHeckbert, P., Fundamentals of Texture Mapping and Image Warping, MastersThesis, Dept. of EECS, U. of California at Berkeley, Technical ReportNo. UCB/CSD 89/516, June 1989, the contents of which are hereinincorporated by reference thereto). The perspective transform mayalternatively be derived from the 3D transform 218, if available.

[0288] The inferred tag-space to image-space perspective transform 222is used to project (at 224) each known data bit position in tag spaceinto image space where the real-valued position is used to bi-linearly(or higher-order) interpolate (at 224) the four (or more) relevantadjacent pixels in the enhanced input image 206. The resultant macrodotvalue is compared with a suitable threshold to determine whether itrepresents a zero bit or a one bit.

[0289] One the bits of one or more complete codeword have been sampled,the codewords are decoded (at 228) to obtain the desired data 230encoded in the tag. Redundancy in the codeword may be used to detecterrors in the sampled data, or to correct errors in the sampled data.

[0290] As discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/575,154, theobtained tag data 230 may directly or indirectly identify the surfaceregion containing the tag and the position of the tag within the region.An accurate position of the sensing device relative to the surfaceregion can therefore be derived from the tag data 230 and the 3Dtransform 218 of the sensing device relative to the tag.

[0291] 1.2.6 Tag Map

[0292] Decoding a tag results in a region ID, a tag ID, and atag-relative pen transform. Before the tag ID and the tag-relative penlocation can be translated into an absolute location within the taggedregion, the location of the tag within the region must be known. This isgiven by a tag map, a function which maps each tag ID in a tagged regionto a corresponding location. The tag map class diagram is shown in FIG.22, as part of the netpage printer class diagram.

[0293] A tag map reflects the scheme used to tile the surface regionwith tags, and this can vary according to surface type. When multipletagged regions share the same tiling scheme and the same tag numberingscheme, they can also share the same tag map.

[0294] The tag map for a region must be retrievable via the region ID.Thus, given a region ID, a tag ID and a pen transform, the tag map canbe retrieved, the tag ID can be translated into an absolute tag locationwithin the region, and the tag-relative pen location can be added to thetag location to yield an absolute pen location within the region.

[0295] The tag ID may have a structure which assists translation throughthe tag map. It may, for example, encode Cartesian coordinates or polarcoordinates, depending on the surface type on which it appears. The tagID structure is dictated by and known to the tag map, and tag IDsassociated with different tag maps may therefore have differentstructures. For example, the tag ID may simply encode a pair of x and ycoordinates of the tag, in which case the tag map may simply consist ofrecord of the coordinate precision. If the coordinate precision isfixed, then the tag map can be implicit.

[0296] 1.2.7 Tagging Schemes

[0297] Two distinct surface coding schemes are of interest, both ofwhich use the tag structure described earlier in this section. Thepreferred coding scheme uses “location-indicating” tags as alreadydiscussed. An alternative coding scheme uses object-indicating tags.

[0298] A location-indicating tag contains a tag ID which, whentranslated through the tag map associated with the tagged region, yieldsa unique tag location within the region. The tag-relative location ofthe pen is added to this tag location to yield the location of the penwithin the region. This in turn is used to determine the location of thepen relative to a user interface element in the page descriptionassociated with the region. Not only is the user interface elementitself identified, but a location relative to the user interface elementis identified. Location-indicating tags therefore trivially support thecapture of an absolute pen path in the zone of a particular userinterface element.

[0299] An object-indicating tag contains a tag ID which directlyidentifies a user interface element in the page description associatedwith the region. All the tags in the zone of the user interface elementidentify the user interface element, making them all identical andtherefore indistinguishable. Object-indicating tags do not, therefore,support the capture of an absolute pen path. They do, however, supportthe capture of a relative pen path. So long as the position samplingfrequency exceeds twice the encountered tag frequency, the displacementfrom one sampled pen position to the next within a stroke can beunambiguously determined.

[0300] With either tagging scheme, the tags function in cooperation withassociated visual elements on the netpage as user interactive elementsin that a user can interact with the printed page using an appropriatesensing device in order for tag data to be read by the sensing deviceand for an appropriate response to be generated in the netpage system.

[0301] 1.3 Document and Page Descriptions

[0302] A preferred embodiment of a document and page description classdiagram is shown in FIGS. 25 and 26.

[0303] In the netpage system a document is described at three levels. Atthe most abstract level the document 836 has a hierarchical structurewhose terminal elements 839 are associated with content objects 840 suchas text objects, text style objects, image objects, etc. Once thedocument is printed on a printer with a particular page size andaccording to a particular user's scale factor preference, the documentis paginated and otherwise formatted. Formatted terminal elements 835will in some cases be associated with content objects which aredifferent from those associated with their corresponding terminalelements, particularly where the content objects are style-related. Eachprinted instance of a document and page is also described separately, toallow input captured through a particular page instance 830 to berecorded separately from input captured through other instances of thesame page description.

[0304] The presence of the most abstract document description on thepage server allows a user to request a copy of a document without beingforced to accept the source document's specific format. The user may berequesting a copy through a printer with a different page size, forexample. Conversely, the presence of the formatted document descriptionon the page server allows the page server to efficiently interpret useractions on a particular printed page.

[0305] A formatted document 834 consists of a set of formatted pagedescriptions 5, each of which consists of a set of formatted terminalelements 835. Each formatted element has a spatial extent or zone 58 onthe page. This defines the active area of input elements such ashyperlinks and input fields.

[0306] A document instance 831 corresponds to a formatted document 834.It consists of a set of page instances 830, each of which corresponds toa page description 5 of the formatted document. Each page instance 830describes a single unique printed netpage 1, and records the page ID 50of the netpage. A page instance is not part of a document instance if itrepresents a copy of a page requested in isolation.

[0307] A page instance consists of a set of terminal element instances832. An element instance only exists if it records instance-specificinformation. Thus, a hyperlink instance exists for a hyperlink elementbecause it records a transaction ID 55 which is specific to the pageinstance, and a field instance exists for a field element because itrecords input specific to the page instance. An element instance doesnot exist, however, for static elements such as textflows.

[0308] A terminal element can be a static element 843, a hyperlinkelement 844, a field element 845 or a page server command element 846,as shown in FIG. 27. A static element 843 can be a style element 847with an associated style object 854, a textflow element 848 with anassociated styled text object 855, an image element 849 with anassociated image element 856, a graphic element 850 with an associatedgraphic object 857, a video clip element 851 with an associated videoclip object 858, an audio clip element 852 with an associated audio clipobject 859, or a script element 853 with an associated script object860, as shown in FIG. 28.

[0309] A page instance has a background field 833 which is used torecord any digital ink captured on the page which does not apply to aspecific input element.

[0310] In the preferred form of the invention, a tag map 811 isassociated with each page instance to allow tags on the page to betranslated into locations on the page.

[0311] 1.4 The Netpage Network

[0312] In a preferred embodiment, a netpage network consists of adistributed set of netpage page servers 10, netpage registration servers11, netpage ID servers 12, netpage application servers 13, netpagepublication servers 14, Web terminals 75, netpage printers 601, andrelay devices 44 connected via a network 19 such as the Internet, asshown in FIG. 3.

[0313] The netpage registration server 11 is a server which recordsrelationships between users, pens, printers, applications andpublications, and thereby authorizes various network activities. Itauthenticates users and acts as a signing proxy on behalf ofauthenticated users in application transactions. It also provideshandwriting recognition services. As described above, a netpage pageserver 10 maintains persistent information about page descriptions andpage instances. The netpage network includes any number of page servers,each handling a subset of page instances. Since a page server alsomaintains user input values for each page instance, clients such asnetpage printers send netpage input directly to the appropriate pageserver. The page server interprets any such input relative to thedescription of the corresponding page.

[0314] A netpage ID server 12 allocates document IDs 51 on demand, andprovides load-balancing of page servers via its ID allocation scheme.

[0315] A netpage printer uses the Internet Distributed Name System(DNS), or similar, to resolve a netpage page ID 50 into the networkaddress of the netpage page server handling the corresponding pageinstance.

[0316] A netpage application server 13 is a server which hostsinteractive netpage applications. A netpage publication server 14 is anapplication server which publishes netpage documents to netpageprinters. They are described in detail in Section 2.

[0317] Netpage servers can be hosted on a variety of network serverplatforms from manufacturers such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun.Multiple netpage servers can run concurrently on a single host, and asingle server can be distributed over a number of hosts. Some or all ofthe functionality provided by netpage servers, and in particular thefunctionality provided by the ID server and the page server, can also beprovided directly in a netpage appliance such as a netpage printer, in acomputer workstation, or on a local network.

[0318] 1.5 The Netpage Printer

[0319] The netpage printer 601 is an appliance which is registered withthe netpage system and prints netpage documents on demand and viasubscription. Each printer has a unique printer ID 62, and is connectedto the netpage network via a network such as the Internet, ideally via abroadband connection.

[0320] Apart from identity and security settings in non-volatile memory,the netpage printer contains no persistent storage. As far as a user isconcerned, “the network is the computer”. Netpages functioninteractively across space and time with the help of the distributednetpage page servers 10, independently of particular netpage printers.

[0321] The netpage printer receives subscribed netpage documents fromnetpage publication servers 14. Each document is distributed in twoparts: the page layouts, and the actual text and image objects whichpopulate the pages. Because of personalization, page layouts aretypically specific to a particular subscriber and so are pointcast tothe subscriber's printer via the appropriate page server. Text and imageobjects, on the other hand, are typically shared with other subscribers,and so are multicast to all subscribers' printers and the appropriatepage servers.

[0322] The netpage publication server optimizes the segmentation ofdocument content into pointcasts and multicasts. After receiving thepointcast of a document's page layouts, the printer knows whichmulticasts, if any, to listen to.

[0323] Once the printer has received the complete page layouts andobjects that define the document to be printed, it can print thedocument.

[0324] The printer rasterizes and prints odd and even pagessimultaneously on both sides of the sheet. It contains duplexed printengine controllers 760 and print engines utilizing Memjet™ printheads350 for this purpose.

[0325] The printing process consists of two decoupled stages:rasterization of page descriptions, and expansion and printing of pageimages. The raster image processor (RIP) consists of one or morestandard DSPs 757 running in parallel. The duplexed print enginecontrollers consist of custom processors which expand, dither and printpage images in real time, synchronized with the operation of theprintheads in the print engines.

[0326] Printers not enabled for IR printing have the option to printtags using IR-absorptive black ink, although this restricts tags tootherwise empty areas of the page. Although such pages have more limitedfunctionality than IR-printed pages, they are still classed as netpages.

[0327] A normal netpage printer prints netpages on sheets of paper. Morespecialised netpage printers may print onto more specialised surfaces,such as globes. Each printer supports at least one surface type, andsupports at least one tag tiling scheme, and hence tag map, for eachsurface type. The tag map 811 which describes the tag tiling schemeactually used to print a document becomes associated with that documentso that the document's tags can be correctly interpreted.

[0328]FIG. 2 shows the netpage printer class diagram, reflectingprinter-related information maintained by a registration server 11 onthe netpage network.

[0329] A preferred embodiment of the netpage printer is described ingreater detail in Section 6 below, with reference to FIGS. 11 to 16.

[0330] 1.5.1 Memjet™ Printheads

[0331] The netpage system can operate using printers made with a widerange of digital printing technologies, including thermal inkjet,piezoelectric inkjet, laser electrophotographic, and others. However,for wide consumer acceptance, it is desirable that a netpage printerhave the following characteristics:

[0332] photographic quality color printing

[0333] high quality text printing

[0334] high reliability

[0335] low printer cost

[0336] low ink cost

[0337] low paper cost

[0338] simple operation

[0339] nearly silent printing

[0340] high printing speed

[0341] simultaneous double sided printing

[0342] compact form factor

[0343] low power consumption

[0344] No commercially available printing technology has all of thesecharacteristics.

[0345] To enable to production of printers with these characteristics,the present applicant has invented a new print technology, referred toas Memjet™ technology. Memjet™ is a drop-on-demand inkjet technologythat incorporates pagewidth printheads fabricated usingmicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. FIG. 17 shows a singleprinting element 300 of a Memjet™ printhead. The netpage wallprinterincorporates 168960 printing elements 300 to form a 1600 dpi pagewidthduplex printer. This printer simultaneously prints cyan, magenta,yellow, black, and infrared inks as well as paper conditioner and inkfixative.

[0346] The printing element 300 is approximately 110 microns long by 32microns wide. Arrays of these printing elements are formed on a siliconsubstrate 301 that incorporates CMOS logic, data transfer, timing, anddrive circuits (not shown).

[0347] Major elements of the printing element 300 are the nozzle 302,the nozzle rim 303, the nozzle chamber 304, the fluidic seal 305, theink channel rim 306, the lever arm 307, the active actuator beam pair308, the passive actuator beam pair 309, the active actuator anchor 310,the passive actuator anchor 311, and the ink inlet 312.

[0348] The active actuator beam pair 308 is mechanically joined to thepassive actuator beam pair 309 at the join 319. Both beams pairs areanchored at their respective anchor points 310 and 311. The combinationof elements 308, 309, 310, 311, and 319 form a cantileveredelectrothermal bend actuator 320.

[0349] While printing, the printhead CMOS circuitry distributes datafrom the print engine controller to the correct printing element,latches the data, and buffers the data to drive the electrodes 318 ofthe active actuator beam pair 308. This causes an electrical current topass through the beam pair 308 for about one microsecond, resulting inJoule heating. The temperature increase resulting from Joule heatingcauses the beam pair 308 to expand. As the passive actuator beam pair309 is not heated, it does not expand, resulting in a stress differencebetween the two beam pairs. This stress difference is partially resolvedby the cantilevered end of the electrothermal bend actuator 320 bendingtowards the substrate 301. The lever arm 307 transmits this movement tothe nozzle chamber 304. The nozzle chamber 304 moves about two micronsto the position shown in FIG. 19(b). This increases the ink pressure,forcing ink 321 out of the nozzle 302, and causing the ink meniscus 316to bulge. The nozzle rim 303 prevents the ink meniscus 316 fromspreading across the surface of the nozzle chamber 304.

[0350] As the temperature of the beam pairs 308 and 309 equalizes, theactuator 320 returns to its original position. This aids in thebreak-off of the ink droplet 317 from the ink 321 in the nozzle chamber.The nozzle chamber is refilled by the action of the surface tension atthe meniscus 316.

[0351] In a netpage printer, the length of the printhead is the fullwidth of the paper (typically 210 mm). When printing, the paper is movedpast the fixed printhead. The printhead has 6 rows of interdigitatedprinting elements 300, printing the six colors or types of ink suppliedby the ink inlets.

[0352] To protect the fragile surface of the printhead during operation,a nozzle guard wafer is attached to the printhead substrate. For eachnozzle there is a corresponding nozzle guard hole through which the inkdroplets are fired. To prevent the nozzle guard holes from becomingblocked by paper fibers or other debris, filtered air is pumped throughthe air inlets and out of the nozzle guard holes during printing. Toprevent ink from drying, the nozzle guard is sealed while the printer isidle.

[0353] 1.6 The Netpage Pen

[0354] The active sensing device of the netpage system is typically apen 101, which, using its embedded controller 134, is able to captureand decode IR position tags from a page via an image sensor. The imagesensor is a solid-state device provided with an appropriate filter topermit sensing at only near-infrared wavelengths. As described in moredetail below, the system is able to sense when the nib is in contactwith the surface, and the pen is able to sense tags at a sufficient rateto capture human handwriting (i.e. at 200 dpi or greater and 100 Hz orfaster). Information captured by the pen is encrypted and wirelesslytransmitted to the printer (or base station), the printer or basestation interpreting the data with respect to the (known) pagestructure.

[0355] The preferred embodiment of the netpage pen operates both as anormal marking ink pen and as a non-marking stylus. The marking aspect,however, is not necessary for using the netpage system as a browsingsystem, such as when it is used as an Internet interface. Each netpagepen is registered with the netpage system and has a unique pen ID 61.FIG. 23 shows the netpage pen class diagram, reflecting pen-relatedinformation maintained by a registration server 11 on the netpagenetwork.

[0356] When either nib is in contact with a netpage, the pen determinesits position and orientation relative to the page. The nib is attachedto a force sensor, and the force on the nib is interpreted relative to athreshold to indicate whether the pen is “up” or “down”. This allows ainteractive element on the page to be ‘clicked’ by pressing with the pennib, in order to request, say, information from a network. Furthermore,the force is captured as a continuous value to allow, say, the fulldynamics of a signature to be verified.

[0357] The pen determines the position and orientation of its nib on thenetpage by imaging, in the infrared spectrum, an area 193 of the page inthe vicinity of the nib. It decodes the nearest tag and computes theposition of the nib relative to the tag from the observed perspectivedistortion on the imaged tag and the known geometry of the pen optics.Although the position resolution of the tag may be low, because the tagdensity on the page is inversely proportional to the tag size, theadjusted position resolution is quite high, exceeding the minimumresolution required for accurate handwriting recognition.

[0358] Pen actions relative to a netpage are captured as a series ofstrokes. A stroke consists of a sequence of time-stamped pen positionson the page, initiated by a pen-down event and completed by thesubsequent pen-up event. A stroke is also tagged with the page ID 50 ofthe netpage whenever the page ID changes, which, under normalcircumstances, is at the commencement of the stroke.

[0359] Each netpage pen has a current selection 826 associated with it,allowing the user to perform copy and paste operations etc. Theselection is timestamped to allow the system to discard it after adefined time period. The current selection describes a region of a pageinstance. It consists of the most recent digital ink stroke capturedthrough the pen relative to the background area of the page. It isinterpreted in an application-specific manner once it is submitted to anapplication via a selection hyperlink activation.

[0360] Each pen has a current nib 824. This is the nib last notified bythe pen to the system. In the case of the default netpage pen describedabove, either the marking black ink nib or the non-marking stylus nib iscurrent. Each pen also has a current nib style 825. This is the nibstyle last associated with the pen by an application, e.g. in responseto the user selecting a color from a palette. The default nib style isthe nib style associated with the cur-rent nib. Strokes captured througha pen are tagged with the current nib style. When the strokes aresubsequently reproduced, they are reproduced in the nib style with whichthey are tagged.

[0361] Whenever the pen is within range of a printer with which it cancommunicate, the pen slowly flashes its “online” LED. When the pen failsto decode a stroke relative to the page, it momentarily activates its“error” LED. When the pen succeeds in decoding a stroke relative to thepage, it momentarily activates its “ok” LED.

[0362] A sequence of captured strokes is referred to as digital ink.Digital ink forms the basis for the digital exchange of drawings andhandwriting, for online recognition of handwriting, and for onlineverification of signatures.

[0363] The pen is wireless and transmits digital ink to the netpageprinter via a short-range radio link. The transmitted digital ink isencrypted for privacy and security and packetized for efficienttransmission, but is always flushed on a pen-up event to ensure timelyhandling in the printer.

[0364] When the pen is out-of-range of a printer it buffers digital inkin internal memory, which has a capacity of over ten minutes ofcontinuous handwriting. When the pen is once again within range of aprinter, it transfers any buffered digital ink.

[0365] A pen can be registered with any number of printers, but becauseall state data resides in netpages both on paper and on the network, itis largely immaterial which printer a pen is communicating with at anyparticular time.

[0366] A preferred embodiment of the pen is described in greater detailin Section 6below, with reference to FIGS. 8 to 10.

[0367] 1.7 Netpage Interaction

[0368] The netpage printer 601 receives data relating to a stroke fromthe pen 101 when the pen is used to interact with a netpage 1. The codeddata 3 of the tags 4 is read by the pen when it is used to execute amovement, such as a stroke. The data allows the identity of theparticular page and associated interactive element to be determined andan indication of the relative positioning of the pen relative to thepage to be obtained. The indicating data is transmitted to the printer,where it resolves, via the DNS, the page ID 50 of the stroke into thenetwork address of the netpage page server 10 which maintains thecorresponding page instance 830. It then transmits the stroke to thepage server. If the page was recently identified in an earlier stroke,then the printer may already have the address of the relevant pageserver in its cache. Each netpage consists of a compact page layoutmaintained persistently by a netpage page server (see below). The pagelayout refers to objects such as images, fonts and pieces of text,typically stored elsewhere on the netpage network.

[0369] When the page server receives the stroke from the pen, itretrieves the page description to which the stroke applies, anddetermines which element of the page description the stroke intersects.It is then able to interpret the stroke in the context of the type ofthe relevant element.

[0370] A “click” is a stroke where the distance and time between the pendown position and the subsequent pen up position are both less than somesmall maximum. An object which is activated by a click typicallyrequires a click to be activated, and accordingly, a longer stroke isignored. The failure of a pen action, such as a “sloppy” click, toregister is indicated by the lack of response from the pen's “ok” LED.

[0371] There are two kinds of input elements in a netpage pagedescription: hyperlinks and form fields. Input through a form field canalso trigger the activation of an associated hyperlink.

[0372] 1.7.1 Hyperlinks

[0373] A hyperlink is a means of sending a message to a remoteapplication, and typically elicits a printed response in the netpagesystem.

[0374] A hyperlink element 844 identifies the application 71 whichhandles activation of the hyperlink, a link ID 54 which identifies thehyperlink to the application, an “alias required” flag which asks thesystem to include the user's application alias ID 65 in the hyperlinkactivation, and a description which is used when the hyperlink isrecorded as a favorite or appears in the user's history. The hyperlinkelement class diagram is shown in FIG. 29.

[0375] When a hyperlink is activated, the page server sends a request toan application somewhere on the network. The application is identifiedby an application ID 64, and the application ID is resolved in thenormal way via the DNS. There are three types of hyperlinks: generalhyperlinks 863, form hyperlinks 865, and selection hyperlinks 864, asshown in FIG. 30. A general hyperlink can implement a request for alinked document, or may simply signal a preference to a server. A formhyperlink submits the corresponding form to the application. A selectionhyperlink submits the current selection to the application. If thecurrent selection contains a single-word piece of text, for example, theapplication may return a single-page document giving the word's meaningwithin the context in which it appears, or a translation into adifferent language. Each hyperlink type is characterized by whatinformation is submitted to the application.

[0376] The corresponding hyperlink instance 862 records a transaction ID55 which can be specific to the page instance on which the hyperlinkinstance appears. The transaction ID can identify user-specific data tothe application, for example a “shopping cart” of pending purchasesmaintained by a purchasing application on behalf of the user.

[0377] The system includes the pen's current selection 826 in aselection hyperlink activation. The system includes the content of theassociated form instance 868 in a form hyperlink activation, although ifthe hyperlink has its “submit delta” attribute set, only input since thelast form submission is included. The system includes an effectivereturn path in all hyperlink activations.

[0378] A hyperlinked group 866 is a group element 838 which has anassociated hyperlink, as shown in FIG. 31. When input occurs through anyfield element in the group, the hyperlink 844 associated with the groupis activated. A hyperlinked group can be used to associate hyperlinkbehavior with a field such as a checkbox. It can also be used, inconjunction with the “submit delta” attribute of a form hyperlink, toprovide continuous input to an application. It can therefore be used tosupport a “blackboard” interaction model, i.e. where input is capturedand therefore shared as soon as it occurs.

[0379] 1.7.2 Forms

[0380] A form defines a collection of related input fields used tocapture a related set of inputs through a printed netpage. A form allowsa user to submit one or more parameters to an application softwareprogram running on a server.

[0381] A form 867 is a group element 838. in the document hierarchy. Itultimately contains a set of terminal field elements 839. A forminstance 868 represents a printed instance of a form. It consists of aset of field instances 870 which correspond to the field elements 845 ofthe form. Each field instance has an associated value 871, whose typedepends on the type of the corresponding field element. Each field valuerecords input through a particular printed form instance, i.e. throughone or more printed netpages. The form class diagram is shown in FIG.32.

[0382] Each form instance has a status 872 which indicates whether theform is active, frozen, submitted, void or expired. A form is activewhen first printed. A form becomes frozen once it is signed or once itsfreeze time is reached. A form becomes submitted once one of itssubmission hyperlinks has been activated, unless the hyperlink has its“submit delta” attribute set. A form becomes void when the user invokesa void form, reset form or duplicate form page command. A form expireswhen its specified expiry time is reached, i.e. when the time the formhas been active exceeds the form's specified lifetime. While the form isactive, form input is allowed. Input through a form which is not activeis instead captured in the background field 833 of the relevant pageinstance. When the form is active or frozen, form submission is allowed.Any attempt to submit a form when the form is not active or frozen isrejected, and instead elicits an form status report.

[0383] Each form instance is associated (at 59) with any form instancesderived from it, thus providing a version history. This allows all butthe latest version of a form in a particular time period to be excludedfrom a search.

[0384] All input is captured as digital ink. Digital ink 873 consists ofa set of timestamped stroke groups 874, each of which consists of a setof styled strokes 875. Each stroke consists of a set of timestamped penpositions 876, each of which also includes pen orientation and nibforce. The digital ink class diagram is shown in FIG. 33.

[0385] A field element 845 can be a checkbox field 877, a text field878, a drawing field 879, or a signature field 880. The field elementclass diagram is shown in FIG. 34. Any digital ink captured in a field'szone 58 is assigned to the field.

[0386] A checkbox field has an associated boolean value 881, as shown inFIG. 35. Any mark (a tick, a cross, a stroke, a fill zigzag, etc.)captured in a checkbox field's zone causes a true value to be assignedto the field's value.

[0387] A text field has an associated text value 882, as shown in FIG.36. Any digital ink captured in a text field's zone is automaticallyconverted to text via online handwriting recognition, and the text isassigned to the field's value. Online handwriting recognition iswell-understood (see, for example, Tappert, C., C. Y. Suen and T.Wakahara, “The State of the Art in On-Line Handwriting Recognition”,IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 12,No. 8, August 1990, the contents of which are herein incorporated bycross-reference).

[0388] A signature field has an associated digital signature value 883,as shown in FIG. 37. Any digital ink captured in a signature field'szone is automatically verified with respect to the identity of the ownerof the pen, and a digital signature of the content of the form of whichthe field is part is generated and assigned to the field's value. Thedigital signature is generated using the pen user's private signaturekey specific to the application which owns the form. Online signatureverification is well-understood (see, for example, Plamondon, R. and G.Lorette, “Automatic Signature Verification and Writer Identification—TheState of the Art”, Pattern Recognition, Vol. 22, No. 2, 1989, thecontents of which are herein incorporated by cross-reference).

[0389] A field element is hidden if its “hidden” attribute is set. Ahidden field element does not have an input zone on a page and does notaccept input. It can have an associated field value which is included inthe form data when the form containing the field is submitted.

[0390] “Editing” commands, such as strike-throughs indicating deletion,can also be recognized in form fields.

[0391] Because the handwriting recognition algorithm works “online”(i.e. with access to the dynamics of the pen movement), rather than“offline” (i.e. with access only to a bitmap of pen markings), it canrecognize run-on discretely-written characters with relatively highaccuracy, without a writer-dependent training phase. A writer-dependentmodel of handwriting is automatically generated over time, however, andcan be generated up-front if necessary,

[0392] Digital ink, as already stated, consists of a sequence ofstrokes. Any stroke which starts in a particular element's zone isappended to that element's digital ink stream, ready for interpretation.Any stroke not appended to an object's digital ink stream is appended tothe background field's digital ink stream.

[0393] Digital ink captured in the background field is interpreted as aselection gesture. Circumscription of one or more objects is generallyinterpreted as a selection of the circumscribed objects, although theactual interpretation is application-specific.

[0394] Table 2 summarises these various pen interactions with a netpage.TABLE 2 Summary of pen interactions with a netpage Object Type Pen inputAction Hyperlink General Click Submit action to application Form ClickSubmit form to application Selection Click Submit selection toapplication Form field Checkbox Any mark Assign true to field TextHandwriting Convert digital ink to text; assign text to field DrawingDigital ink Assign digital ink to field Signature Signature Verifydigital ink signature; generate digital signature of form; assigndigital signature to field None — Circumscription Assign digital ink tocurrent selection

[0395] The system maintains a current selection for each pen. Theselection consists simply of the most recent stroke captured in thebackground field. The selection is cleared after an inactivity timeoutto ensure predictable behavior.

[0396] The raw digital ink captured in every field is retained on thenetpage page server and is optionally transmitted with the form datawhen the form is submitted to the application. This allows theapplication to interrogate the raw digital ink should it suspect theoriginal conversion, such as the conversion of handwritten text. Thiscan, for example, involve human intervention at the application levelfor forms which fail certain application-specific consistency checks. Asan extension to this, the entire background area of a form can bedesignated as a drawing field. The application can then decide, on thebasis of the presence of digital ink outside the explicit fields of theform, to route the form to a human operator, on the assumption that theuser may have indicated amendments to the filled-in fields outside ofthose fields.

[0397]FIG. 38 shows a flowchart of the process of handling pen inputrelative to a netpage. The process consists of receiving (at 884) astroke from the pen; identifying (at 885) the page instance 830 to whichthe page ID 50 in the stroke refers; retrieving (at 886) the pagedescription 5; identifying (at 887) a formatted element 839 whose zone58 the stroke intersects; determining (at 888) whether the formattedelement corresponds to a field element, and if so appending (at 892) thereceived stroke to the digital ink of the field value 871, interpreting(at 893) the accumulated digital ink of the field, and determining (at894) whether the field is part of a hyperlinked group 866 and if soactivating (at 895) the associated hyperlink; alternatively determining(at 889) whether the formatted element corresponds to a hyperlinkelement and if so activating (at 895) the corresponding hyperlink;alternatively, in the absence of an input field or hyperlink, appending(at 890) the received stroke to the digital ink of the background field833; and copying (at 891) the received stroke to the current selection826 of the current pen, as maintained by the registration server.

[0398]FIG. 38a shows a detailed flowchart of step 893 in the processshown in FIG. 38, where the accumulated digital ink of a field isinterpreted according to the type of the field. The process consists ofdetermining (at 896) whether the field is a checkbox and (at 897)whether the digital ink represents a checkmark, and if so assigning (at898) a true value to the field value; alternatively determining (at 899)whether the field is a text field and if so converting (at 900) thedigital ink to computer text, with the help of the appropriateregistration server, and assigning (at 901) the converted computer textto the field value; alternatively determining (at 902) whether the fieldis a signature field and if so verifying (at 903) the digital ink as thesignature of the pen's owner, with the help of the appropriateregistration server, creating (at 904) a digital signature of thecontents of the corresponding form, also with the help of theregistration server and using the pen owner's private signature keyrelating to the corresponding application, and assigning (at 905) thedigital signature to the field value.

[0399] 1.7.3 Page Server Commands

[0400] A page server command is a command which is handled locally bythe page server. It operates directly on form, page and documentinstances.

[0401] A page server command 907 can be a void form command 908, aduplicate form command 909, a reset form command 910, a get form statuscommand 911, a duplicate page command 912, a reset page command 913, aget page status command 914, a duplicate document command 915, a resetdocument command 916, or a get document status command 917, as shown inFIG. 39.

[0402] A void form command voids the corresponding form instance. Aduplicate form command voids the corresponding form instance and thenproduces an active printed copy of the current form instance with fieldvalues preserved. The copy contains the same hyperlink transaction IDsas the original, and so is indistinguishable from the original to anapplication. A reset form command voids the corresponding form instanceand then produces an active printed copy of the form instance with fieldvalues discarded. A get form status command produces a printed report onthe status of the corresponding form instance, including who publishedit, when it was printed, for whom it was printed, and the form status ofthe form instance.

[0403] Since a form hyperlink instance contains a transaction ID, theapplication has to be involved in producing a new form instance. Abutton requesting a new form instance is therefore typically implementedas a hyperlink.

[0404] A duplicate page command produces a printed copy of thecorresponding page instance with the background field value preserved.If the page contains a form or is part of a form, then the duplicatepage command is interpreted as a duplicate form command. A reset pagecommand produces a printed copy of the corresponding page instance withthe background field value discarded. If the page contains a form or ispart of a form, then the reset page command is interpreted as a resetform command. A get page status command produces a printed report on thestatus of the corresponding page instance, including who published it,when it was printed, for whom it was printed, and the status of anyforms it contains or is part of.

[0405] The netpage logo which appears on every netpage is usuallyassociated with a duplicate page element.

[0406] When a page instance is duplicated with field values preserved,field values are printed in their native form, i.e. a checkmark appearsas a standard checkmark graphic, and text appears as typeset text. Onlydrawings and signatures appear in their original form, with a signatureaccompanied by a standard graphic indicating successful signatureverification.

[0407] A duplicate document command produces a printed copy of thecorresponding document instance with background field values preserved.If the document contains any forms, then the duplicate document commandduplicates the forms in the same way a duplicate form command does. Areset document command produces a printed copy of the correspondingdocument instance with background field values discarded. If thedocument contains any forms, then the reset document command resets theforms in the same way a reset form command does. A get document statuscommand produces a printed report on the status of the correspondingdocument instance, including who published it, when it was printed, forwhom it was printed, and the status of any forms it contains.

[0408] If the page server command's “on selected” attribute is set, thenthe command operates on the page identified by the pen's currentselection rather than on the page containing the command. This allows amenu of page server commands to be printed. If the target page doesn'tcontain a page server command element for the designated page servercommand, then the command is ignored.

[0409] An application can provide application-specific handling byembedding the relevant page server command element in a hyperlinkedgroup. The page server activates the hyperlink associated with thehyperlinked group rather than executing the page server command.

[0410] A page server command element is hidden if its “hidden” attributeis set. A hidden command element does not have an input zone on a pageand so cannot be activated directly by a user. It can, however, beactivated via a page server command embedded in a different page, ifthat page server command has its “on selected” attribute set.

[0411] 1.8 Standard Features of Netpages

[0412] In the preferred form, each netpage is printed with the netpagelogo at the bottom to indicate that it is a netpage and therefore hasinteractive properties. The logo also acts as a copy button. In mostcases pressing the logo produces a copy of the page. In the case of aform, the button produces a copy of the entire form. And in the case ofa secure document, such as a ticket or coupon, the button elicits anexplanatory note or advertising page.

[0413] The default single-page copy function is handled directly by therelevant netpage page server. Special copy functions are handled bylinking the logo button to an application.

[0414] 1.9 User Help System

[0415] In a preferred embodiment, the netpage printer has a singlebutton labelled “Help”. When pressed it elicits a single help page 46 ofinformation, including:

[0416] status of printer connection

[0417] status of printer consumables

[0418] top-level help menu

[0419] document function menu

[0420] top-level netpage network directory

[0421] The help menu provides a hierarchical manual on how to use thenetpage system.

[0422] The document function menu includes the following functions:

[0423] print a copy of a document

[0424] print a clean copy of a form

[0425] print the status of a document

[0426] A document function is initiated by selecting the document andthen pressing the button. The status of a document indicates whopublished it and when, to whom it was delivered, and to whom and when itwas subsequently submitted as a form.

[0427] The help page is obviously unavailable if the printer is unableto print. In this case the “error” light is lit and the user can requestremote diagnosis over the network.

[0428] 2 Personalized Publication Model

[0429] In the following description, news is used as a canonicalpublication example to illustrate personalization mechanisms in thenetpage system. Although news is often used in the limited sense ofnewspaper and newsmagazine news, the intended scope in the presentcontext is wider.

[0430] In the netpage system, the editorial content and the advertisingcontent of a news publication are personalized using differentmechanisms. The editorial content is personalized according to thereader's explicitly stated and implicitly captured interest profile. Theadvertising content is personalized according to the reader's localityand demographic.

[0431] 2.1 Editorial Personalization

[0432] A subscriber can draw on two kinds of news sources: those thatdeliver news publications, and those that deliver news streams. Whilenews publications are aggregated and edited by the publisher, newsstreams are aggregated either by a news publisher or by a specializednews aggregator. News publications typically correspond to traditionalnewspapers and newsmagazines, while news streams can be many and varied:a “raw” news feed from a news service, a cartoon strip, a freelancewriter's column, a friend's bulletin board, or the reader's own e-mail.

[0433] The netpage publication server supports the publication of editednews publications as well as the aggregation of multiple news streams.By handling the aggregation and hence the formatting of news streamsselected directly by the reader, the server is able to place advertisingon pages over which it otherwise has no editorial control.

[0434] The subscriber builds a daily newspaper by selecting one or morecontributing news publications, and creating a personalized version ofeach. The resulting daily editions are printed and bound together into asingle newspaper. The various members of a household typically expresstheir different interests and tastes by selecting different dailypublications and then customizing them.

[0435] For each publication, the reader optionally selects specificsections. Some sections appear daily, while others appear weekly. Thedaily sections available from The New York Times online, for example,include “Page One Plus”, “National”, “International”, “Opinion”,“Business”, “Arts/Living”, “Technology”, and “Sports”. The set ofavailable sections is specific to a publication, as is the defaultsubset.

[0436] The reader can extend the daily newspaper by creating customsections, each one drawing on any number of news streams. Customsections might be created for e-mail and friends' announcements(“Personal”), or for monitoring news feeds for specific topics (“Alerts”or “Clippings”).

[0437] For each section, the reader optionally specifies its size,either qualitatively (e.g. short, medium, or long), or numerically (i.e.as a limit on its number of pages), and the desired proportion ofadvertising, either qualitatively (e.g. high, normal, low, none), ornumerically (i.e. as a percentage).

[0438] The reader also optionally expresses a preference for a largenumber of shorter articles or a small number of longer articles. Eacharticle is ideally written (or edited) in both short and long forms tosupport this preference.

[0439] An article may also be written (or edited) in different versionsto match the expected sophistication of the reader, for example toprovide children's and adults' versions. The appropriate version isselected according to the reader's age. The reader can specify a“reading age” which takes precedence over their biological age.

[0440] The articles which make up each section are selected andprioritized by the editors, and each is assigned a useful lifetime. Bydefault they are delivered to all relevant subscribers, in priorityorder, subject to space constraints in the subscribers' editions.

[0441] In sections where it is appropriate, the reader may optionallyenable collaborative filtering. This is then applied to articles whichhave a sufficiently long lifetime. Each article which qualifies forcollaborative filtering is printed with rating buttons at the end of thearticle. The buttons can provide an easy choice (e.g. “liked” and“disliked”), making it more likely that readers will bother to rate thearticle.

[0442] Articles with high priorities and short lifetimes are thereforeeffectively considered essential reading by the editors and aredelivered to most relevant subscribers.

[0443] The reader optionally specifies a serendipity factor, eitherqualitatively (e.g. do or don't surprise me), or numerically. A highserendipity factor lowers the threshold used for matching duringcollaborative filtering. A high factor makes it more likely that thecorresponding section will be filled to the reader's specified capacity.A different serendipity factor can be specified for different days ofthe week.

[0444] The reader also optionally specifies topics of particularinterest within a section, and this modifies the priorities assigned bythe editors.

[0445] The speed of the reader's Internet connection affects the qualityat which images can be delivered. The reader optionally specifies apreference for fewer images or smaller images or both. If the number orsize of images is not reduced, then images may be delivered at lowerquality (i.e. at lower resolution or with greater compression).

[0446] At a global level, the reader specifies how quantities, dates,times and monetary values are localized. This involves specifyingwhether units are imperial or metric, a local timezone and time format,and a local currency, and whether the localization consist of in situtranslation or annotation. These preferences are derived from thereader's locality by default.

[0447] To reduce reading difficulties caused by poor eyesight, thereader optionally specifies a global preference for a largerpresentation. Both text and images are scaled accordingly, and lessinformation is accommodated on each page.

[0448] The language in which a news publication is published, and itscorresponding text encoding, is a property of the publication and not apreference expressed by the user. However, the netpage system can beconfigured to provide automatic translation services in various guises.

[0449] 2.2 Advertising Localization and Targeting

[0450] The personalization of the editorial content directly affects theadvertising content, because advertising is typically placed to exploitthe editorial context. Travel ads, for example, are more likely toappear in a travel section than elsewhere. The value of the editorialcontent to an advertiser (and therefore to the publisher) lies in itsability to attract large numbers of readers with the right demographics.

[0451] Effective advertising is placed on the basis of locality anddemographics. Locality determines proximity to particular services,retailers etc., and particular interests and concerns associated withthe local community and environment. Demographics determine generalinterests and preoccupations as well as likely spending patterns.

[0452] A news publisher's most profitable product is advertising“space”, a multi-dimensional entity determined by the publication'sgeographic coverage, the size of its readership, its readershipdemographics, and the page area available for advertising.

[0453] In the netpage system, the netpage publication server computesthe approximate multi-dimensional size of a publication's saleableadvertising space on a per-section basis, taking into account thepublication's geographic coverage, the section's readership, the size ofeach reader's section edition, each reader's advertising proportion, andeach reader's demographic.

[0454] In comparison with other media, the netpage system allows theadvertising space to be defined in greater detail, and allows smallerpieces of it to be sold separately. It therefore allows it to be sold atcloser to its true value.

[0455] For example, the same advertising “slot” can be sold in varyingproportions to several advertisers, with individual readers' pagesrandomly receiving the advertisement of one advertiser or another,overall preserving the proportion of space sold to each advertiser.

[0456] The netpage system allows advertising to be linked directly todetailed product information and online purchasing. It therefore raisesthe intrinsic value of the advertising space.

[0457] Because personalization and localization are handledautomatically by netpage publication servers, an advertising aggregatorcan provide arbitrarily broad coverage of both geography anddemographics. The subsequent disaggregation is efficient because it isautomatic. This makes it more cost-effective for publishers to deal withadvertising aggregators than to directly capture advertising. Eventhough the advertising aggregator is taking a proportion of advertisingrevenue, publishers may find the change profit-neutral because of thegreater efficiency of aggregation. The advertising aggregator acts as anintermediary between advertisers and publishers, and may place the sameadvertisement in multiple publications.

[0458] It is worth noting that ad placement in a netpage publication canbe more complex than ad placement in the publication's traditionalcounterpart, because the publication's advertising space is morecomplex. While ignoring the full complexities of negotiations betweenadvertisers, advertising aggregators and publishers, the preferred formof the netpage system provides some automated support for thesenegotiations, including support for automated auctions of advertisingspace. Automation is particularly desirable for the placement ofadvertisements which generate small amounts of income, such as small orhighly localized advertisements.

[0459] Once placement has been negotiated, the aggregator captures andedits the advertisement and records it on a netpage ad server.Correspondingly, the publisher records the ad placement on the relevantnetpage publication server. When the netpage publication server lays outeach user's personalized publication, it picks the relevantadvertisements from the netpage ad server.

[0460] 2.3 User Profiles

[0461] 2.3.1 Information Filtering

[0462] The personalization of news and other publications relies on anassortment of user-specific profile information, including:

[0463] publication customizations

[0464] collaborative filtering vectors

[0465] contact details

[0466] presentation preferences

[0467] The customization of a publication is typicallypublication-specific, and so the customization information is maintainedby the relevant netpage publication server.

[0468] A collaborative filtering vector consists of the user's ratingsof a number of news items. It is used to correlate different users'interests for the purposes of making recommendations. Although there arebenefits to maintaining a single collaborative filtering vectorindependently of any particular publication, there are two reasons whyit is more practical to maintain a separate vector for each publication:there is likely to be more overlap between the vectors of subscribers tothe same publication than between those of subscribers to differentpublications; and a publication is likely to want to present its users'collaborative filtering vectors as part of the value of its brand, notto be found elsewhere. Collaborative filtering vectors are thereforealso maintained by the relevant netpage publication server.

[0469] Contact details, including name, street address, ZIP Code, state,country, telephone numbers, are global by nature, and are maintained bya netpage registration server.

[0470] Presentation preferences, including those for quantities, datesand times, are like-wise global and maintained in the same way.

[0471] The localization of advertising relies on the locality indicatedin the user's contact details, while the targeting of advertising relieson personal information such as date of birth, gender, marital status,income, profession, education, or qualitative derivatives such as agerange and income range.

[0472] For those users who choose to reveal personal information foradvertising purposes, the information is maintained by the relevantnetpage registration server. In the absence of such information,advertising can be targeted on the basis of the demographic associatedwith the user's ZIP or ZIP+4 Code.

[0473] Each user, pen, printer, application provider and application isassigned its own unique identifier, and the netpage registration servermaintains the relationships between them, as shown in FIGS. 21, 22, 23and 24. For registration purposes, a publisher is a special kind ofapplication provider, and a publication is a special kind ofapplication.

[0474] Each user 800 may be authorized to use any number of printers802, and each printer may allow any number of users to use it. Each userhas a single default printer (at 66), to which periodical publicationsare delivered by default, whilst pages printed on demand are deliveredto the printer through which the user is interacting. The server keepstrack of which publishers a user has authorized to print to the user'sdefault printer. A publisher does not record the ID of any particularprinter, but instead resolves the ID when it is required. The user mayalso be designated as having administrative privileges 69 on theprinter, allowing the user to authorize other users to use the printer.This only has meaning if the printer requires administrative privileges84 for such operations.

[0475] When a user subscribes 808 to a publication 807, the publisher806 (i.e. application provider 803) is authorized to print to aspecified printer or the user's default printer. This authorization canbe revoked at any time by the user. Each user may have several pens 801,but a pen is specific to a single user. If a user is authorized to use aparticular printer, then that printer recognizes any of the user's pens.

[0476] The pen ID is used to locate the corresponding user profilemaintained by a particular netpage registration server, via the DNS inthe usual way.

[0477] A Web terminal 809 can be authorized to print on a particularnetpage printer, allowing Web pages and netpage documents encounteredduring Web browsing to be conveniently printed on the nearest netpageprinter.

[0478] The netpage system can collect, on behalf of a printer provider,fees and commissions on income earned through publications printed onthe provider's printers. Such income can include advertising fees,click-through fees, e-commerce commissions, and transaction fees. If theprinter is owned by the user, then the user is the printer provider.

[0479] Each user also has a netpage account 820 which is used toaccumulate micro-debits and credits (such as those described in thepreceding paragraph); contact details 815, including name, address andtelephone numbers; global preferences 816, including privacy, deliveryand localization settings; any number of biometric records 817,containing the user's encoded signature 818, fingerprint 819 etc; ahandwriting model 819 automatically maintained by the system; and SETpayment card accounts 821, with which e-commerce payments can be made.

[0480] In addition to the user-specific netpage account, each user alsohas a netpage account 936 specific to each printer the user isauthorized to use. Each printer-specific account is used to accumulatemicro-debits and credits related to the user's activities on thatprinter. The user is billed on a regular basis for any outstanding debitbalances.

[0481] A user optionally appears in the netpage user directory 823,allowing other users to locate and direct e-mail (etc.) to the user.

[0482] 2.4 Intelligent Page Layout

[0483] The netpage publication server automatically lays out the pagesof each user's personalized publication on a section-by-section basis.Since most advertisements are in the form of pre-formatted rectangles,they are placed on the page before the editorial content.

[0484] The advertising ratio for a section can be achieved with wildlyvarying advertising ratios on individual pages within the section, andthe ad layout algorithm exploits this. The algorithm is configured toattempt to co-locate closely tied editorial and advertising content,such as placing ads for roofing material specifically within thepublication because of a special feature on do-it-yourself roofingrepairs.

[0485] The editorial content selected for the user, including text andassociated images and graphics, is then laid out according to variousaesthetic rules.

[0486] The entire process, including the selection of ads and theselection of editorial content, must be iterated once the layout hasconverged, to attempt to more closely achieve the user's stated sectionsize preference. The section size preference can, however, be matched onaverage over time, allowing significant day-to-day variations.

[0487] 2.5 Document Format

[0488] Once the document is laid out, it is encoded for efficientdistribution and persistent storage on the netpage network.

[0489] The primary efficiency mechanism is the separation of informationspecific to a single user's edition and information shared betweenmultiple users' editions. The specific information consists of the pagelayout. The shared information consists of the objects to which the pagelayout refers, including images, graphics, and pieces of text.

[0490] A text object contains fully-formatted text represented in theExtensible Markup Language (XML) using the Extensible StylesheetLanguage (XSL). XSL provides precise control over text formattingindependently of the region into which the text is being set, which inthis case is being provided by the layout. The text object containsembedded language codes to enable automatic translation, and embeddedhyphenation hints to aid with paragraph formatting.

[0491] An image object encodes an image in the JPEG 2000 wavelet-basedcompressed image format. A graphic object encodes a 2D graphic inScalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format.

[0492] The layout itself consists of a series of placed image andgraphic objects, linked textflow objects through which text objectsflow, hyperlinks and input fields as described above, and watermarkregions. These layout objects are summarized in Table 3. The layout usesa compact format suitable for efficient distribution and storage. TABLE3 netpage layout objects Layout Format of object Attribute linked objectImage Position — Image object ID JPEG 2000 Graphic Position — Graphicobject ID SVG Textflow Textflow ID — Zone — Optional text XML/XSL objectID — Hyperlink Type — Zone — Application — ID, etc. — Field Type —Meaning — Zone — Watermark Zone —

[0493] 2.6 Document Distribution

[0494] As described above, for purposes of efficient distribution andpersistent storage on the netpage network, a user-specific page layoutis separated from the shared objects to which it refers.

[0495] When a subscribed publication is ready to be distributed, thenetpage publication server allocates, with the help of the netpage IDserver 12, a unique ID for each page, page instance, document, anddocument instance.

[0496] The server computes a set of optimized subsets of the sharedcontent and creates a multicast channel for each subset, and then tagseach user-specific layout with the names of the multicast channels whichwill carry the shared content used by that layout. The server thenpointcasts each user's layouts to that user's printer via theappropriate page server, and when the pointcasting is complete,multicasts the shared content on the specified channels. After receivingits pointcast, each page server and printer subscribes to the multicastchannels specified in the page layouts. During the multicasts, each pageserver and printer extracts from the multicast streams those objectsreferred to by its page layouts. The page servers persistently archivethe received page layouts and shared content.

[0497] Once a printer has received all the objects to which its pagelayouts refer, the printer re-creates the fully-populated layout andthen rasterizes and prints it.

[0498] Under normal circumstances, the printer prints pages faster thanthey can be delivered. Assuming a quarter of each page is covered withimages, the average page has a size of less than 400KB. The printer cantherefore hold in excess of 100 such pages in its internal 64MB memory,allowing for temporary buffers etc. The printer prints at a rate of onepage per second. This is equivalent to 400KB or about 3 Mbit of pagedata per second, which is similar to the highest expected rate of pagedata delivery over a broadband network.

[0499] Even under abnormal circumstances, such as when the printer runsout of paper, it is likely that the user will be able to replenish thepaper supply before the printer's 100-page internal storage capacity isexhausted.

[0500] However, if the printer's internal memory does fill up, then theprinter will be unable to make use of a multicast when it first occurs.The netpage publication server therefore allows printers to submitrequests for re-multicasts. When a critical number of requests isreceived or a timeout occurs, the server re-multicasts the correspondingshared objects.

[0501] Once a document is printed, a printer can produce an exactduplicate at any time by retrieving its page layouts and contents fromthe relevant page server.

[0502] 2.7 On-Demand Documents

[0503] When a netpage document is requested on demand, it can bepersonalized and delivered in much the same way as a periodical.However, since there is no shared content, delivery is made directly tothe requesting printer without the use of multicast.

[0504] When a non-netpage document is requested on demand, it is notpersonalized, and it is delivered via a designated netpage formattingserver which reformats it as a netpage document. A netpage formattingserver is a special instance of a netpage publication server. Thenetpage formatting server has knowledge of various Internet documentformats, including Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF), and HypertextMarkup Language (HTML). In the case of HTML, it can make use of thehigher resolution of the printed page to present Web pages in amulti-column format, with a table of contents. It can automaticallyinclude all Web pages directly linked to the requested page. The usercan tune this behavior via a preference.

[0505] The netpage formatting server makes standard netpage behavior,including interactivity and persistence, available on any Internetdocument, no matter what its origin and format. It hides knowledge ofdifferent document formats from both the netpage printer and the netpagepage server, and hides knowledge of the netpage system from Web servers.

[0506] 3 Security

[0507] 3.1 Cryptography

[0508] Cryptography is used to protect sensitive information, both instorage and in transit, and to authenticate parties to a transaction.There are two classes of cryptography in widespread use: secret-keycryptography and public-key cryptography. The netpage net-work uses bothclasses of cryptography.

[0509] Secret-key cryptography, also referred to as symmetriccryptography, uses the same key to encrypt and decrypt a message. Twoparties wishing to exchange messages must first arrange to securelyexchange the secret key.

[0510] Public-key cryptography, also referred to as asymmetriccryptography, uses two encryption keys. The two keys are mathematicallyrelated in such a way that any message encrypted using one key can onlybe decrypted using the other key. One of these keys is then published,while the other is kept private. The public key is used to encrypt anymessage intended for the holder of the private key. Once encrypted usingthe public key, a message can only be decrypted using the private key.Thus two parties can securely exchange messages without first having toexchange a secret key. To ensure that the private key is secure, it isnormal for the holder of the private key to generate the key pair.

[0511] Public-key cryptography can be used to create a digitalsignature. The holder of the private key can create a known hash of amessage and then encrypt the hash using the private key. Anyone can thenverify that the encrypted hash constitutes the “signature” of the holderof the private key with respect to that particular message by decryptingthe encrypted hash using the public key and verifying the hash againstthe message. If the signature is appended to the message, then therecipient of the message can verify both that the message is genuine andthat it has not been altered in transit.

[0512] To make public-key cryptography work, there has to be a way todistribute public keys which prevents impersonation. This is normallydone using certificates and certificate authorities. A certificateauthority is a trusted third party which authenticates the connectionbetween a public key and someone's identity. The certificate authorityverifies the person's identity by examining identity documents, and thencreates and signs a digital certificate containing the person's identitydetails and public key. Anyone who trusts the certificate authority canuse the public key in the certificate with a high degree of certaintythat it is genuine. They just have to verify that the certificate hasindeed been signed by the certificate authority, whose public key iswell-known.

[0513] In most transaction environments, public-key cryptography is onlyused to create digital signatures and to securely exchange secretsession keys. Secret-key cryptography is used for all other purposes.

[0514] In the following discussion, when reference is made to the securetransmission of information between a netpage printer and a server, whatactually happens is that the printer obtains the server's certificate,authenticates it with reference to the certificate authority, uses thepublic key-exchange key in the certificate to exchange a secret sessionkey with the server, and then uses the secret session key to encrypt themessage data. A session key, by definition, can have an arbitrarilyshort lifetime.

[0515] 3.2 Netpage Printer Security

[0516] Each netpage printer is assigned a pair of unique identifiers attime of manufacture which are stored in read-only memory in the printerand in the netpage registration server database. The first ID 62 ispublic and uniquely identifies the printer on the netpage network. Thesecond ID is secret and is used when the printer is first registered onthe network.

[0517] When the printer connects to the netpage network for the firsttime after installation, it creates a signature public/private key pair.It transmits the secret ID and the public key securely to the netpageregistration server. The server compares the secret ID against theprinter's secret ID recorded in its database, and accepts theregistration if the IDs match. It then creates and signs a certificatecontaining the printer's public ID and public signature key, and storesthe certificate in the registration database.

[0518] The netpage registration server acts as a certificate authorityfor netpage printers, since it has access to secret information allowingit to verify printer identity.

[0519] When a user subscribes to a publication, a record is created inthe netpage registration server database authorizing the publisher toprint the publication to the user's default printer or a specifiedprinter. Every document sent to a printer via a page server is addressedto a particular user and is signed by the publisher using thepublisher's private signature key. The page server verifies, via theregistration database, that the publisher is authorized to deliver thepublication to the specified user. The page server verifies thesignature using the publisher's public key, obtained from thepublisher's certificate stored in the registration database.

[0520] The netpage registration server accepts requests to add printingauthorizations to the database, so long as those requests are initiatedvia a pen registered to the printer.

[0521] 3.3 Netpage Pen Security

[0522] Each netpage pen is assigned a unique identifier at time ofmanufacture which is stored in read-only memory in the pen and in thenetpage registration server database. The pen ID 61 uniquely identifiesthe pen on the netpage network.

[0523] A netpage pen can “know” a number of netpage printers, and aprinter can “know” a number of pens. A pen communicates with a printervia a radio frequency signal whenever it is within range of the printer.Once a pen and printer are registered, they regularly exchange sessionkeys. Whenever the pen transmits digital ink to the printer, the digitalink is always encrypted using the appropriate session key. Digital inkis never transmitted in the clear.

[0524] A pen stores a session key for every printer it knows, indexed byprinter ID, and a printer stores a session key for every pen it knows,indexed by pen ID. Both have a large but finite storage capacity forsession keys, and will forget a session key on a least-recently-usedbasis if necessary.

[0525] When a pen comes within range of a printer, the pen and printerdiscover whether they know each other. If they don't know each other,then the printer determines whether it is supposed to know the pen. Thismight be, for example, because the pen belongs to a user who isregistered to use the printer. If the printer is meant to know the penbut doesn't, then it initiates the automatic pen registration procedure.If the printer isn't meant to know the pen, then it agrees with the pento ignore it until the pen is placed in a charging cup, at which time itinitiates the registration procedure.

[0526] In addition to its public ID, the pen contains a secretkey-exchange key. The key-exchange key is also recorded in the netpageregistration server database at time of manufacture. Duringregistration, the pen transmits its pen ID to the printer, and theprinter transmits the pen ID to the netpage registration server. Theserver generates a session key for the printer and pen to use, andsecurely transmits the session key to the printer. It also transmits acopy of the session key encrypted with the pen's key-exchange key. Theprinter stores the session key internally, indexed by the pen ID, andtransmits the encrypted session key to the pen. The pen stores thesession key internally, indexed by the printer ID.

[0527] Although a fake pen can impersonate a pen in the pen registrationprotocol, only a real pen can decrypt the session key transmitted by theprinter.

[0528] When a previously unregistered pen is first registered, it is oflimited use until it is linked to a user. A registered but “un-owned”pen is only allowed to be used to request and fill in netpage user andpen registration forms, to register a new user to which the new pen isautomatically linked, or to add a new pen to an existing user.

[0529] The pen uses secret-key rather than public-key encryption becauseof hardware performance constraints in the pen.

[0530] 3.4 Secure Documents

[0531] The netpage system supports the delivery of secure documents suchas tickets and coupons. The netpage printer includes a facility to printwatermarks, but will only do so on request from publishers who aresuitably authorized. The publisher indicates its authority to printwatermarks in its certificate, which the printer is able toauthenticate.

[0532] The “watermark” printing process uses an alternative dithermatrix in specified “watermark” regions of the page. Back-to-back pagescontain mirror-image watermark regions which coincide when printed. Thedither matrices used in odd and even pages' watermark regions aredesigned to produce an interference effect when the regions are viewedtogether, achieved by looking through the printed sheet.

[0533] The effect is similar to a watermark in that it is not visiblewhen looking at only one side of the page, and is lost when the page iscopied by normal means.

[0534] Pages of secure documents cannot be copied using the built-innetpage copy mechanism described in Section 1.9 above. This extends tocopying netpages on netpage-aware photocopiers.

[0535] Secure documents are typically generated as part of e-commercetransactions. They can therefore include the user's photograph which wascaptured when the user registered biometric information with the netpageregistration server, as described in Section 2.

[0536] When presented with a secure netpage document, the recipient canverify its authenticity by requesting its status in the usual way. Theunique ID of a secure document is only valid for the lifetime of thedocument, and secure document IDs are allocated non-contiguously toprevent their prediction by opportunistic forgers. A secure documentverification pen can be developed with built-in feedback on verificationfailure, to support easy point-of-presentation document verification.

[0537] Clearly neither the watermark nor the user's photograph aresecure in a cryptographic sense. They simply provide a significantobstacle to casual forgery. Online document verification, particularlyusing a verification pen, provides an added level of security where itis needed, but is still not entirely immune to forgeries.

[0538] 3.5 Non-Repudiation

[0539] In the netpage system, forms submitted by users are deliveredreliably to forms handlers and are persistently archived on netpage pageservers. It is therefore impossible for recipients to repudiatedelivery.

[0540] E-commerce payments made through the system, as described inSection 4, are also impossible for the payee to repudiate.

[0541] 4 Electronic Commerce Model

[0542] 4.1 Secure Electronic Transaction (SET)

[0543] The netpage system uses the Secure Electronic Transaction (SET)system as one of its payment systems. SET, having been developed byMasterCard and Visa, is organized around payment cards, and this isreflected in the terminology. However, much of the system is independentof the type of accounts being used.

[0544] In SET, cardholders and merchants register with a certificateauthority and are issued with certificates containing their publicsignature keys. The certificate authority verifies a cardholder'sregistration details with the card issuer as appropriate, and verifies amerchant's registration details with the acquirer as appropriate.Cardholders and merchants store their respective private signature keyssecurely on their computers. During the payment process, thesecertificates are used to mutually authenticate a merchant andcardholder, and to authenticate them both to the payment gateway.

[0545] SET has not yet been adopted widely, partly because cardholdermaintenance of keys and certificates is considered burdensome. Interimsolutions which maintain cardholder keys and certificates on a serverand give the cardholder access via a password have met with somesuccess.

[0546] 4.2 SET Payments

[0547] In the netpage system the netpage registration server acts as aproxy for the netpage user (i.e. the cardholder) in SET paymenttransactions.

[0548] The netpage system uses biometrics to authenticate the user andauthorize SET payments. Because the system is pen-based, the biometricused is the user's online signature, consisting of time-varying penposition and pressure. A fingerprint biometric can also be used bydesigning a fingerprint sensor into the pen, although at a higher cost.The type of biometric used only affects the capture of the biometric,not the authorization aspects of the system.

[0549] The first step to being able to make SET payments is to registerthe user's biometric with the netpage registration server. This is donein a controlled environment, for example a bank, where the biometric canbe captured at the same time as the user's identity is verified. Thebiometric is captured and stored in the registration database, linked tothe user's record. The user's photograph is also optionally captured andlinked to the record. The SET cardholder registration process iscompleted, and the resulting private signature key and certificate arestored in the database. The user's payment card information is alsostored, giving the netpage registration server enough information to actas the user's proxy in any SET payment transaction.

[0550] When the user eventually supplies the biometric to complete apayment, for example by signing a netpage order form, the printersecurely transmits the order information, the pen ID and the biometricdata to the netpage registration server. The server verifies thebio-metric with respect to the user identified by the pen ID, and fromthen on acts as the user's proxy in completing the SET paymenttransaction.

[0551] 4.3 Micro-Payments

[0552] The netpage system includes a mechanism for micro-payments, toallow the user to be conveniently charged for printing low-costdocuments on demand and for copying copyright documents, and possiblyalso to allow the user to be reimbursed for expenses incurred inprinting advertising material. The latter depends on the level ofsubsidy already provided to the user.

[0553] When the user registers for e-commerce, a network account isestablished which aggregates micro-payments. The user receives astatement on a regular basis, and can settle any outstanding debitbalance using the standard payment mechanism.

[0554] The network account can be extended to aggregate subscriptionfees for periodicals, which would also otherwise be presented to theuser in the form of individual statements.

[0555] 4.4 Transactions

[0556] When a user requests a netpage in a particular applicationcontext, the application is able to embed a user-specific transaction ID55 in the page. Subsequent input through the page is tagged with thetransaction ID, and the application is thereby able to establish anappropriate context for the user's input.

[0557] When input occurs through a page which is not user-specific,however, the application must use the user's unique identity toestablish a context. A typical example involves adding items from apre-printed catalog page to the user's virtual “shopping cart”. Toprotect the user's privacy, however, the unique user ID 60 known to thenetpage system is not divulged to applications. This is to preventdifferent application providers from easily correlating independentlyaccumulated behavioral data.

[0558] The netpage registration server instead maintains an anonymousrelationship between a user and an application via a unique alias ID 65,as shown in FIG. 24. Whenever the user activates a hyperlink tagged withthe “registered” attribute, the netpage page server asks the netpageregistration server to translate the associated application ID 64,together with the pen ID 61, into an alias ID 65. The alias ID is thensubmitted to the hyperlink's application.

[0559] The application maintains state information indexed by alias ID,and is able to retrieve user-specific state information withoutknowledge of the global identity of the user.

[0560] The system also maintains an independent certificate and privatesignature key for each of a user's applications, to allow it to signapplication transactions on behalf of the user using onlyapplication-specific information.

[0561] To assist the system in routing product bar code (e.g. UPC) andsimilar product-item-related “hyperlink” activations, the system recordsa favorite application on behalf of the user for any number of producttypes. For example, a user may nominate Amazon as their favoritebookseller, while a different user may nominate Barnes and Noble. Whenthe first user requests book-related information, e.g. via a printedbook review or via an actual book, they are provided with theinformation by Amazon.

[0562] Each application is associated with an application provider, andthe system maintains an account on behalf of each application provider,to allow it to credit and debit the provider for click-through fees etc.

[0563] An application provider can be a publisher of periodicalsubscribed content. The system records the user's willingness to receivethe subscribed publication, as well as the expected frequency ofpublication.

[0564] 5 Communications Protocols

[0565] A communications protocol defines an ordered exchange of messagesbetween entities. In the netpage system, entities such as pens, printersand servers utilise a set of defined protocols to cooperatively handleuser interaction with the netpage system.

[0566] Each protocol is illustrated by way of a sequence diagram inwhich the horizontal dimension is used to represent message flow and thevertical dimension is used to represent time. Each entity is representedby a rectangle containing the name of the entity and a vertical columnrepresenting the lifeline of the entity. During the time an entityexists, the lifeline is shown as a dashed line. During the time anentity is active, the lifeline is shown as a double line. Because theprotocols considered here do not create or destroy entities, lifelinesare generally cut short as soon as an entity ceases to participate in aprotocol.

[0567] 5.1 Subscription Delivery Protocol

[0568] A preferred embodiment of a subscription delivery protocol isshown in FIG. 40.

[0569] A large number of users may subscribe to a periodicalpublication. Each user's edition may be laid out differently, but manyusers' editions will share common content such as text objects and imageobjects. The subscription delivery protocol therefore delivers documentstructures to individual printers via pointcast, but delivers sharedcontent objects via multicast.

[0570] The application (i.e. publisher) first obtains a document ID 51for each document from an ID server 12. It then sends each documentstructure, including its document ID and page descriptions, to the pageserver 10 responsible for the document's newly allocated ID. It includesits own application ID 64, the subscriber's alias ID 65, and therelevant set of multicast channel names. It signs the message using itsprivate signature key.

[0571] The page server uses the application ID and alias ID to obtainfrom the registration server the corresponding user ID 60, the user'sselected printer ID 62 (which may be explicitly selected for theapplication, or may be the user's default printer), and theapplication's certificate.

[0572] The application's certificate allows the page server to verifythe message signature. The page server's request to the registrationserver fails if the application ID and alias ID don't together identifya subscription 808.

[0573] The page server then allocates document and page instance IDs andforwards the page descriptions, including page IDs 50, to the printer.It includes the relevant set of multicast channel names for the printerto listen to.

[0574] It then returns the newly allocated page IDs to the applicationfor future reference.

[0575] Once the application has distributed all of the documentstructures to the subscribers' selected printers via the relevant pageservers, it multicasts the various subsets of the shared objects on thepreviously selected multicast channels. Both page servers and printersmonitor the appropriate multicast channels and receive their requiredcontent objects. They are then able to populate the previously pointcastdocument structures. This allows the page servers to add completedocuments to their databases, and it allows the printers to print thedocuments.

[0576] 5.2 Hyperlink Activation Protocol

[0577] A preferred embodiment of a hyperlink activation protocol isshown in FIG. 42.

[0578] When a user clicks on a netpage with a netpage pen, the pencommunicates the click to the nearest netpage printer 601. The clickidentifies the page and a location on the page. The printer alreadyknows the ID 61 of the pen from the pen connection protocol.

[0579] The printer determines, via the DNS, the network address of thepage server 10 a handling the particular page ID 50. The address mayalready be in its cache if the user has recently interacted with thesame page. The printer then forwards the pen ID, its own printer ID 62,the page ID and click location to the page server.

[0580] The page server loads the page description 5 identified by thepage ID and determines which input element's zone 58, if any, the clicklies in. Assuming the relevant input element is a hyperlink element 844,the page server then obtains the associated application ID 64 and linkID 54, and determines, via the DNS, the network address of theapplication server hosting the application 71.

[0581] The page server uses the pen ID 61 to obtain the correspondinguser ID 60 from the registration server 11, and then allocates aglobally unique hyperlink request ID 52 and builds a hyperlink request934. The hyperlink request class diagram is shown in FIG. 41. Thehyperlink request records the IDs of the requesting user and printer,and identifies the clicked hyperlink instance 862. The page server thensends its own server ID 53, the hyperlink request ID, and the link ID tothe application.

[0582] The application produces a response document according toapplication-specific logic, and obtains a document ID 51 from an IDserver 12. It then sends the document to the page server 10 bresponsible for the document's newly allocated ID, together with therequesting page server's ID and the hyperlink request ID.

[0583] The second page server sends the hyperlink request ID andapplication ID to the first page server to obtain the corresponding userID and printer ID 62. The first page server rejects the request if thehyperlink request has expired or is for a different application.

[0584] The second page server allocates document instance and page IDs50, returns the newly allocated page IDs to the application, adds thecomplete document to its own database, and finally sends the pagedescriptions to the requesting printer.

[0585] The hyperlink instance may include a meaningful transaction ID55, in which case the first page server includes the transaction ID inthe message sent to the application. This allows the application toestablish a transaction-specific context for the hyperlink activation.

[0586] If the hyperlink requires a user alias, i.e. its “alias required”attribute is set, then the first page server sends both the pen ID 61and the hyperlink's application ID 64 to the registration server 11 toobtain not just the user ID corresponding to the pen ID but also thealias ID 65 corresponding to the application ID and the user ID. Itincludes the alias ID in the message sent to the application, allowingthe application to establish a user-specific context for the hyperlinkactivation.

[0587] 5.3 Handwriting Recognition Protocol

[0588] When a user draws a stroke on a netpage with a netpage pen, thepen communicates the stroke to the nearest netpage printer. The strokeidentifies the page and a path on the page.

[0589] The printer forwards the pen ID 61, its own printer ID 62, thepage ID 50 and stroke path to the page server 10 in the usual way.

[0590] The page server loads the page description 5 identified by thepage ID and determines which input element's zone 58, if any, the strokeintersects. Assuming the relevant input element is a text field 878, thepage server appends the stroke to the text field's digital ink.

[0591] After a period of inactivity in the zone of the text field, thepage server sends the pen ID and the pending strokes to the registrationserver 11 for interpretation. The registration server identifies theuser corresponding to the pen, and uses the user's accumulatedhandwriting model 822 to interpret the strokes as handwritten text. Onceit has converted the strokes to text, the registration server returnsthe text to the requesting page server. The page server appends the textto the text value of the text field.

[0592] 5.4 Signature Verification Protocol

[0593] Assuming the input element whose zone the stroke intersects is asignature field 880, the page server 10 appends the stroke to thesignature field's digital ink.

[0594] After a period of inactivity in the zone of the signature field,the page server sends the pen ID 61 and the pending strokes to theregistration server 11 for verification. It also sends the applicationID 64 associated with the form of which the signature field is part, aswell as the form ID 56 and the current data content of the form. Theregistration server identifies the user corresponding to the pen, anduses the user's dynamic signature biometric 818 to verify the strokes asthe user's signature. Once it has verified the signature, theregistration server uses the application ID 64 and user ID 60 toidentify the user's application-specific private signature key. It thenuses the key to generate a digital signature of the form data, andreturns the digital signature to the requesting page server. The pageserver assigns the digital signature to the signature field and sets theassociated form's status to frozen.

[0595] The digital signature includes the alias ID 65 of thecorresponding user. This allows a single form to capture multiple users'signatures.

[0596] 5.5 Form Submission Protocol

[0597] A preferred embodiment of a form submission protocol is shown inFIG. 43.

[0598] Form submission occurs via a form hyperlink activation. It thusfollows the protocol defined in Section 5.2, with some form-specificadditions.

[0599] In the case of a form hyperlink, the hyperlink activation messagesent by the page server 10 to the application 71 also contains the formID 56 and the current data content of the form. If the form contains anysignature fields, then the application verifies each one by extractingthe alias ID 65 associated with the corresponding digital signature andobtaining the corresponding certificate from the registration server 11.

[0600] 6 Netpage Pen Description

[0601] 6.1 Pen Mechanics

[0602] Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, the pen, generally designated byreference numeral 101, includes a housing 102 in the form of a plasticsmoulding having walls 103 defining an interior space 104 for mountingthe pen components. The pen top 105 is in operation rotatably mounted atone end 106 of the housing 102. A semi-transparent cover 107 is securedto the opposite end 108 of the housing 102. The cover 107 is also ofmoulded plastics, and is formed from semi-transparent material in orderto enable the user to view the status of the LED mounted within thehousing 102. The cover 107 includes a main part 109 which substantiallysurrounds the end 108 of the housing 102 and a projecting portion 110which projects back from the main part 109 and fits within acorresponding slot 111 formed in the walls 103 of the housing 102. Aradio antenna 112 is mounted behind the projecting portion 110, withinthe housing 102. Screw threads 113 surrounding an aperture 113A on thecover 107 are arranged to receive a metal end piece 114, includingcorresponding screw threads 115. The metal end piece 114 is removable toenable ink cartridge replacement.

[0603] Also mounted within the cover 107 is a tri-color status LED 116on a flex PCB 117. The antenna 112 is also mounted on the flex PCB 117.The status LED 116 is mounted at the top of the pen 101 for goodall-around visibility.

[0604] The pen can operate both as a normal marking ink pen and as anon-marking stylus. An ink pen cartridge 118 with nib 119 and a stylus120 with stylus nib 121 are mounted side by side within the housing 102.Either the ink cartridge nib 119 or the stylus nib 121 can be broughtforward through open end 122 of the metal end piece 114, by rotation ofthe pen top 105. Respective slider blocks 123 and 124 are mounted to theink cartridge 118 and stylus 120, respectively. A rotatable cam barrel125 is secured to the pen top 105 in operation and arranged to rotatetherewith. The cam barrel 125 includes a cam 126 in the form of a slotwithin the walls 181 of the cam barrel. Cam followers 127 and 128projecting from slider blocks 123 and 124 fit within the cam slot 126.On rotation of the cam barrel 125, the slider blocks 123 or 124 moverelative to each other to project either the pen nib 119 or stylus nib121 out through the hole 122 in the metal end piece 114. The pen 101 hasthree states of operation. By turning the top 105 through 90° steps, thethree states are:

[0605] stylus 120 nib 121 out

[0606] ink cartridge 118 nib 119 out, and

[0607] neither ink cartridge 118 nib 119 out nor stylus 120 nib 121 outA second flex PCB 129, is mounted on an electronics chassis 130 whichsits within the housing 102. The second flex PCB 129 mounts an infraredLED 131 for providing infrared radiation for projection onto thesurface. An image sensor 132 is provided mounted on the second flex PCB129 for receiving reflected radiation from the surface. The second flexPCB 129 also mounts a radio frequency chip 133, which includes an RFtransmitter and RF receiver, and a controller chip 134 for controllingoperation of the pen 101. An optics block 135 (formed from moulded clearplastics) sits within the cover 107 and projects an infrared beam ontothe surface and receives images onto the image sensor 132. Power supplywires 136 connect the components on the second flex PCB 129 to batterycontacts 137 which are mounted within the cam barrel 125. A terminal 138connects to the battery contacts 137 and the cam barrel 125. A threevolt rechargeable battery 139 sits within the cam barrel 125 in contactwith the battery contacts. An induction charging coil 140 is mountedabout the second flex PCB 129 to enable recharging of the battery 139via induction. The second flex PCB 129 also mounts an infrared LED 143and infrared photo-diode 144 for detecting displacement in the cambarrel 125 when either the stylus 120 or the ink cartridge 118 is usedfor writing, in order to enable a determination of the force beingapplied to the surface by the pen nib 119 or stylus nib 121. The IRphotodiode 144 detects light from the IR LED 143 via reflectors (notshown) mounted on the slider blocks 123 and 124.

[0608] Rubber grip pads 141 and 142 are provided towards the end 108 ofthe housing 102 to assist gripping the pen 101, and top 105 alsoincludes a clip 142 for clipping the pen 101 to a pocket.

[0609] 6.2 Pen Controller

[0610] The pen 101 is arranged to determine the position of its nib(stylus nib 121 or ink cartridge nib 119) by imaging, in the infraredspectrum, an area of the surface in the vicinity of the nib. It recordsthe location data from the nearest location tag, and is arranged tocalculate the distance of the nib 121 or 119 from the location tabutilising optics 135 and controller chip 134. The controller chip 134calculates the orientation of the pen and the nib-to-tag distance fromthe perspective distortion observed on the imaged tag.

[0611] Utilising the RF chip 133 and antenna 112 the pen 101 cantransmit the digital ink data (which is encrypted for security andpackaged for efficient transmission) to the computing system.

[0612] When the pen is in range of a receiver, the digital ink data istransmitted as it is formed. When the pen 101 moves out of range,digital ink data is buffered within the pen 101 (the pen 101 circuitryincludes a buffer arranged to store digital ink data for approximately12 minutes of the pen motion on the surface) and can be transmittedlater.

[0613] The controller chip 134 is mounted on the second flex PCB 129 inthe pen 101. FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail thearchitecture of the controller chip 134. FIG. 10 also showsrepresentations of the RF chip 133, the image sensor 132, the tri-colorstatus LED 116, the IR illumination LED 131, the IR force sensor LED143, and the force sensor photodiode 144.

[0614] The pen controller chip 134 includes a controlling processor 145.Bus 146 enables the exchange of data between components of thecontroller chip 134. Flash memory 147 and a 512 KB DRAM 148 are alsoincluded. An analog-to-digital converter 149 is arranged to convert theanalog signal from the force sensor photodiode 144 to a digital signal.

[0615] An image sensor interface 152 interfaces with the image sensor132. A transceiver controller 153 and base band circuit 154 are alsoincluded to interface with the RF chip 133 which includes an RF circuit155 and RF resonators and inductors 156 connected to the antenna 112.

[0616] The controlling processor 145 captures and decodes location datafrom tags from the surface via the image sensor 132, monitors the forcesensor photodiode 144, controls the LEDs 116, 131 and 143, and handlesshort-range radio communication via the radio transceiver 153. It is amedium-performance (˜40 MHz) general-purpose RISC processor.

[0617] The processor 145, digital transceiver components (transceivercontroller 153 and baseband circuit 154), image sensor interface 152,flash memory 147 and 512KB DRAM 148 are integrated in a singlecontroller ASIC. Analog RF components (RF circuit 155 and RF resonatorsand inductors 156) are provided in the separate RF chip.

[0618] The image sensor is a CCD or CMOS image sensor. Depending ontagging scheme, it has a size ranging from about 100×100 pixels to200×200 pixels. Many miniature CMOS image sensors are commerciallyavailable, including the National Semiconductor LM9630.

[0619] The controller ASIC 134 enters a quiescent state after a periodof inactivity when the pen 101 is not in contact with a surface. Itincorporates a dedicated circuit 150 which monitors the force sensorphotodiode 144 and wakes up the controller 134 via the power manager 151on a pen-down event.

[0620] The radio transceiver communicates in the unlicensed 900 MHz bandnormally used by cordless telephones, or alternatively in the unlicensed2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band, and usesfrequency hopping and collision detection to provide interference-freecommunication.

[0621] In an alternative embodiment, the pen incorporates an InfraredData Association (IrDA) interface for short-range communication with abase station or netpage printer.

[0622] In a further embodiment, the pen 101 includes a pair oforthogonal accelerometers mounted in the normal plane of the pen 101axis. The accelerometers 190 are shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 in ghostoutline.

[0623] The provision of the accelerometers enables this embodiment ofthe pen 101 to sense motion without reference to surface location tags,allowing the location tags to be sampled at a lower rate. Each locationtag ID can then identify an object of interest rather than a position onthe surface. For example, if the object is a user interface inputelement (e.g. a command button), then the tag ID of each location tagwithin the area of the input element can directly identify the inputelement.

[0624] The acceleration measured by the accelerometers in each of the xand y directions is integrated with respect to time to produce aninstantaneous velocity and position.

[0625] Since the starting position of the stroke is not known, onlyrelative positions within a stroke are calculated. Although positionintegration accumulates errors in the sensed acceleration,accelerometers typically have high resolution, and the time duration ofa stroke, over which errors accumulate, is short.

[0626] 7 Netpage Printer Description

[0627] 7.1 Printer Mechanics

[0628] The vertically-mounted netpage wallprinter 601 is shown fullyassembled in FIG. 11. It prints netpages on Letter/A4 sized media usingduplexed 8 ½″ Memjet™ print engines 602 and 603, as shown in FIGS. 12and 12a. It uses a straight paper path with the paper 604 passingthrough the duplexed print engines 602 and 603 which print both sides ofa sheet simultaneously, in full color and with full bleed.

[0629] An integral binding assembly 605 applies a strip of glue alongone edge of each printed sheet, allowing it to adhere to the previoussheet when pressed against it. This creates a final bound document 618which can range in thickness from one sheet to several hundred sheets.

[0630] The replaceable ink cartridge 627, shown in FIG. 13 coupled withthe duplexed print engines, has bladders or chambers for storingfixative, adhesive, and cyan, magenta, yellow, black and infrared inks.The cartridge also contains a micro air filter in a base molding. Themicro air filter interfaces with an air pump 638 inside the printer viaa hose 639. This provides filtered air to the printheads to preventingress of micro particles into the Memjet™ printheads 350 which mightotherwise clog the printhead nozzles. By incorporating the air filterwithin the cartridge, the operational life of the filter is effectivelylinked to the life of the cartridge. The ink cartridge is a fullyrecyclable product with a capacity for printing and gluing 3000 pages(1500 sheets).

[0631] Referring to FIG. 12, the motorized media pick-up roller assembly626 pushes the top sheet directly from the media tray past a papersensor on the first print engine 602 into the duplexed Memjet™ printheadassembly. The two Memjet™ print engines 602 and 603 are mounted in anopposing in-line sequential configuration along the straight paper path.The paper 604 is drawn into the first print engine 602 by integral,powered pick-up rollers 626. The position and size of the paper 604 issensed and full bleed printing commences. Fixative is printedsimultaneously to aid drying in the shortest possible time.

[0632] The paper exits the first Memjet™ print engine 602 through a setof powered exit spike wheels (aligned along the straight paper path),which act against a rubberized roller. These spike wheels contact the‘wet’ printed surface and continue to feed the sheet 604 into the secondMemjet™ print engine 603.

[0633] Referring to FIGS. 12 and 12a, the paper 604 passes from theduplexed print engines 602 and 603 into the binder assembly 605. Theprinted page passes between a powered spike wheel axle 670 with afibrous support roller and another movable axle with spike wheels and amomentary action glue wheel. The movable axle/glue assembly 673 ismounted to a metal support bracket and it is transported forward tointerface with the powered axle 670 via gears by action of a camshaft. Aseparate motor powers this camshaft.

[0634] The glue wheel assembly 673 consists of a partially hollow axle679 with a rotating coupling for the glue supply hose 641 from the inkcartridge 627. This axle 679 connects to a glue wheel, which absorbsadhesive by capillary action through radial holes. A molded housing 682surrounds the glue wheel, with an opening at the front. Pivoting sidemoldings and sprung outer doors are attached to the metal bracket andhinge out sideways when the rest of the assembly 673 is thrust forward.This action exposes the glue wheel through the front of the moldedhousing 682. Tension springs close the assembly and effectively cap theglue wheel during periods of inactivity.

[0635] As the sheet 604 passes into the glue wheel assembly 673,adhesive is applied to one vertical edge on the front side (apart fromthe first sheet of a document) as it is transported down into thebinding assembly 605.

[0636] 7.2 Printer Controller Architecture

[0637] The netpage printer controller consists of a controllingprocessor 750, a factory-installed or field-installed network interfacemodule 625, a radio transceiver (transceiver controller 753, basebandcircuit 754, RF circuit 755, and RF resonators and inductors 756), dualraster image processor (RIP) DSPs 757, duplexed print engine controllers760 a and 760 b, flash memory 658, and 64MB of DRAM 657, as illustratedin FIG. 14.

[0638] The controlling processor handles communication with the network19 and with local wireless netpage pens 101, senses the help button 617,controls the user interface LEDs 613-616, and feeds and synchronizes theRIP DSPs 757 and print engine controllers 760. It consists of amedium-performance general-purpose microprocessor. The controllingprocessor 750 communicates with the print engine controllers 760 via ahigh-speed serial bus 659.

[0639] The RIP DSPs rasterize and compress page descriptions to thenetpage printer's compressed page format. Each print engine controllerexpands, dithers and prints page images to its associated Memjet™printhead 350 in real time (i.e. at over 30 pages per minute). Theduplexed print engine controllers print both sides of a sheetsimultaneously.

[0640] The master print engine controller 760 a controls the papertransport and monitors ink usage in conjunction with the master QA chip665 and the ink cartridge QA chip 761.

[0641] The printer controller's flash memory 658 holds the software forboth the processor 750 and the DSPs 757, as well as configuration data.This is copied to main memory 657 at boot time.

[0642] The processor 750, DSPs 757, and digital transceiver components(transceiver controller 753 and baseband circuit 754) are integrated ina single controller ASIC 656. Analog RF components (RF circuit 755 andRF resonators and inductors 756) are provided in a separate RF chip 762.The network interface module 625 is separate, since netpage printersallow the network connection to be factory-selected or field-selected.Flash memory 658 and the 2×256 Mbit (64MB) DRAM 657 is also off-chip.The print engine controllers 760 are provided in separate ASICs.

[0643] A variety of network interface modules 625 are provided, eachproviding a netpage network interface 751 and optionally a localcomputer or network interface 752. Netpage network Internet interfacesinclude POTS modems, Hybrid Fiber-Coax (HFC) cable modems, ISDN modems,DSL modems, satellite transceivers, current and next-generation cellulartelephone transceivers, and wireless local loop (WLL) transceivers.Local interfaces include IEEE 1284 (parallel port), 10 Base-T and 100Base-T Ethernet, USB and USB 2.0, IEEE 1394 (Firewire), and variousemerging home networking interfaces. If an Internet connection isavailable on the local network, then the local network interface can beused as the netpage network interface.

[0644] The radio transceiver 753 communicates in the unlicensed 900 MHzband normally used by cordless telephones, or alternatively in theunlicensed 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band, anduses frequency hopping and collision detection to provideinterference-free communication.

[0645] The printer controller optionally incorporates an Infrared DataAssociation (IrDA) interface for receiving data “squirted” from devicessuch as netpage cameras. In an alternative embodiment, the printer usesthe IrDA interface for short-range communication with suitablyconfigured netpage pens.

[0646] 7.2.1 Rasterization and Printing

[0647] Once the main processor 750 has received and verified thedocument's page layouts and page objects, it runs the appropriate RIPsoftware on the DSPs 757.

[0648] The DSPs 757 rasterize each page description and compress therasterized page image. The main processor stores each compressed pageimage in memory. The simplest way to load-balance multiple DSPs is tolet each DSP rasterize a separate page. The DSPs can always be kept busysince an arbitrary number of rasterized pages can, in general, be storedin memory. This strategy only leads to potentially poor DSP utilizationwhen rasterizing short documents.

[0649] Watermark regions in the page description are rasterized to acontone-resolution bi-level bitmap which is losslessly compressed tonegligible size and which forms part of the compressed page image.

[0650] The infrared (IR) layer of the printed page contains codednetpage tags at a density of about six per inch. Each tag encodes thepage ID, tag ID, and control bits, and the data content of each tag isgenerated during rasterization and stored in the compressed page image.

[0651] The main processor 750 passes back-to-back page images to theduplexed print engine controllers 760. Each print engine controller 760stores the compressed page image in its local memory, and starts thepage expansion and printing pipeline. Page expansion and printing ispipelined because it is impractical to store an entire 114 MB bi-levelCMYK+IR page image in memory.

[0652] 7.2.2 Print Engine Controller

[0653] The page expansion and printing pipeline of the print enginecontroller 760 consists of a high speed IEEE 1394 serial interface 659,a standard JPEG decoder 763, a standard Group 4 Fax decoder 764, acustom halftoner/compositor unit 765, a custom tag encoder 766, a lineloader/formatter unit 767, and a custom interface 768 to the Memjet™printhead 350.

[0654] The print engine controller 360 operates in a double bufferedmanner. While one page is loaded into DRAM 769 via the high speed serialinterface 659, the previously loaded page is read from DRAM 769 andpassed through the print engine controller pipeline. Once the page hasfinished printing, the page just loaded is printed while another page isloaded.

[0655] The first stage of the pipeline expands (at 763) theJPEG-compressed contone CMYK layer, expands (at 764) the Group 4Fax-compressed bi-level black layer, and renders (at 766) the bi-levelnetpage tag layer according to the tag format defined in section 1.2,all in parallel. The second stage dithers (at 765) the contone CMYKlayer and composites (at 765) the bi-level black layer over theresulting bi-level CMYK layer. The resultant bi-level CMYK+IR dot datais buffered and formatted (at 767) for printing on the Memjet™ printhead350 via a set of line buffers. Most of these line buffers are stored inthe off-chip DRAM. The final stage prints the six channels of bi-leveldot data (including fixative) to the Memjet™ printhead 350 via theprinthead interface 768.

[0656] When several print engine controllers 760 are used in unison,such as in a duplexed configuration, they are synchronized via a sharedline sync signal 770. Only one print engine 760, selected via theexternal master/slave pin 771, generates the line sync signal 770 ontothe shared line.

[0657] The print engine controller 760 contains a low-speed processor772 for synchronizing the page expansion and rendering pipeline,configuring the printhead 350 via a low-speed serial bus 773, andcontrolling the stepper motors 675, 676.

[0658] In the 8 ½ versions of the netpage printer, the two print engineseach prints 30 Letter pages per minute along the long dimension of thepage (11″), giving a line rate of 8.8 kHz at 1600 dpi. In the 12″versions of the netpage printer, the two print engines each prints 45Letter pages per minute along the short dimension of the page (8 ½″),giving a line rate of 10.2 kHz. These line rates are well within theoperating frequency of the Memjet™ print-head, which in the currentdesign exceeds 30 kHz.

[0659] 8 Product Tagging

[0660] Automatic identification refers to the use of technologies suchas bar codes, magnetic stripe cards, smartcards, and RF transponders, to(semi-)automatically identify objects to data processing systems withoutmanual keying.

[0661] For the purposes of automatic identification, a product item iscommonly identified by a 12-digit Universal Product Code (UPC), encodedmachine-readably in the form of a printed bar code. The most common UPCnumbering system incorporates a 5-digit manufacturer ID and a 5-digititem number. Because of its limited precision, a UPC is used to identifya class of product rather than an individual product item. The UniformCode Council and EAN International define and administer the UPC andrelated codes as subsets of the 14-digit Global Trade Item Number(GTIN).

[0662] Within supply chain management, there is considerable interest inexpanding or replacing the UPC scheme to allow individual product itemsto be uniquely identified and thereby tracked. Individual item taggingcan reduce “shrinkage” due to lost, stolen or spoiled goods, improve theefficiency of demand-driven manufacturing and supply, facilitate theprofiling of product usage, and improve the customer experience.

[0663] There are two main contenders for individual item tagging:optical tags in the form of so-called two-dimensional bar codes, andradio frequency identification (RFID) tags. For a detailed descriptionof RFID tags, refer to Klaus Finkenzeller, RFID Handbook, John Wiley &Son (1999), the contents of which are herein incorporated bycross-reference. Optical tags have the advantage of being inexpensive,but require optical line-of-sight for reading. RFID tags have theadvantage of supporting omnidirectional reading, but are comparativelyexpensive. The presence of metal or liquid can seriously interfere withRFID tag performance, undermining the omnidirectional reading advantage.Passive (reader-powered) RFID tags are projected to be priced at 10cents each in multi-million quantities by the end of 2003, and at 5cents each soon thereafter, but this still falls short of thesub-one-cent industry target for low-price items such as grocery. Theread-only nature of most optical tags has also been cited as adisadvantage, since status changes cannot be written to a tag as an itemprogresses through the supply chain. However, this disadvantage ismitigated by the fact that a read-only tag can refer to informationmaintained dynamically on a network.

[0664] The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Auto-ID Centerhas developed a standard for a 96-bit Electronic Product Code (EPC),coupled with an Internet-based Object Naming Service (ONS) and a ProductMarkup Language (PML). Once an EPC is scanned or otherwise obtained, itis used to look up, possibly via the ONS, matching product informationportably encoded in PML. The EPC consists of an 8-bit header, a 28-bitEPC manager, a 24-bit object class, and a 36-bit serial number. For adetailed description of the EPC, refer to Brock, D. L., The ElectronicProduct Code (EPC), MIT Auto-ID Center (January 2001), the contents ofwhich are herein incorporated by cross-reference. The Auto-ID Center hasdefined a mapping of the GTIN onto the EPC to demonstrate compatibilitybetween the EPC and current practices Brock, D. L., Integrating theElectronic Product Code (EPC) and the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN),MIT Auto-ID Center (November 2001), the contents of which are hereinincorporated by cross-reference.

[0665] Although EPCs can be encoded and carried in many forms, theAuto-ID Center strongly advocates the use of low-cost passive RFID tagsto carry EPCs, and has defined a 64-bit version of the EPC to allow thecost of RFID tags to be minimized in the short term. For detaileddescription of low-cost RFID tag characteristics, refer to Sarma, S.,Towards the 5c Tag, MIT Auto-ID Center (November 2001), the contents ofwhich are herein incorporated by cross-reference. For a description of acommercially-available low-cost passive RFID tag, refer to 915 MHz RFIDTag, Alien Technology (2002), the contents of which are hereinincorporated by cross-reference. For detailed description of the 64-bitEPC, refer to Brock, D. L., The Compact Electronic Product Code, MITAuto-ID Center (November 2001), the contents of which are hereinincorporated by cross-reference.

[0666] EPCs are intended not just for unique item-level tagging andtracking, but also for case-level and pallet-level tagging, and fortagging of other logistic units of shipping and transportation such ascontainers and trucks. The distributed PML database records dynamicrelationships between items and higher-level containers in thepackaging, shipping and transportation hierarchy.

[0667] 8.1 Omnitagging in the Supply Chain

[0668] Using an invisible (e.g. infrared) tagging scheme to uniquelyidentify a product item has the significant advantage that it allows theentire surface of a product to be tagged, or a significant portionthereof, without impinging on the graphic design of the product'spackaging or labelling. If the entire product surface is tagged, thenthe orientation of the product doesn't affect its ability to be scanned,i.e. a significant part of the line-of-sight disadvantage of a visiblebar code is eliminated. Furthermore, since the tags are small andmassively replicated, label damage no longer prevents scanning.

[0669] Omnitagging, then, consists of covering a large proportion of thesurface of a product item with optically-readable invisible tags. Eachomnitag uniquely identifies the product item on which it appears. Theomnitag may directly encode the product code (e.g. EPC) of the item, ormay encode a surrogate ID which in turn identifies the product code viaa database lookup. Each omnitag also optionally identifies its ownposition on the surface of the product item, to provide the downstreamconsumer benefits of netpage interactivity described earlier.

[0670] Omnitags are applied during product manufacture and/or packagingusing digital printers. These may be add-on infrared printers whichprint the omnitags after the text and graphics have been printed byother means, or integrated color and infrared printers which print theomnitags, text and graphics simultaneously. Digitally-printed text andgraphics may include everything on the label or packaging, or mayconsist only of the variable portions, with other portions still printedby other means.

[0671] 8.2 Omnitagging

[0672] As shown in FIG. 18, a product's unique item ID 215 may be seenas a special kind of unique object ID 210. The Electronic Product Code(EPC) 220 is one emerging standard for an item ID. An item ID typicallyconsists of a product ID 214 and a serial number 213. The product IDidentifies a class of product, while the serial number identifies aparticular instance of that class, i.e. an individual product item. Theproduct ID in turn typically consists of a manufacturer ID 211 and aproduct class number 212. The best-known product ID is the EAN.UCCUniversal Product Code (UPC) 221 and its variants.

[0673] As shown in FIG. 19, an omnitag 202 encodes a page ID (or regionID) 50 and a two-dimensional (2D) position 86. The region ID identifiesthe surface region containing the tag, and the position identifies thetag's position within the two-dimensional region. Since the surface inquestion is the surface of a physical product item 201, it is useful todefine a one-to-one mapping between the region ID and the unique objectID 210, and more specifically the item ID 215, of the product item.Note, however, that the mapping can be many-to-one without compromisingthe utility of the omnitag. For example, each panel of a product item'spackaging could have a different region ID 50. Conversely, the omnitagmay directly encode the item ID, in which case the region ID containsthe item ID, suitably prefixed to decouple item ID allocation fromgeneral netpage region ID allocation. Note that the region ID uniquelydistinguishes the corresponding surface region from all other surfaceregions identified within the global netpage system.

[0674] The item ID 215 is preferably the EPC 220 proposed by the Auto-IDCenter, since this provides direct compatibility between omnitags andEPC-carrying RFID tags.

[0675] In FIG. 19 the position 86 is shown as optional. This is toindicate that much of the utility of the omnitag in the supply chainderives from the region ID 50, and the position may be omitted if notdesired for a particular product.

[0676] For interoperability with the netpage system, an omnitag 202 is anetpage tag 4, i.e. it has the logical structure, physical layout andsemantics of a netpage tag.

[0677] When a netpage sensing device such as the netpage pen 101 imagesand decodes an omnitag, it uses the position encoded in the tag, and theposition and orientation of the tag in its field of view, to compute itsown position relative to the tag and hence relative to the regioncontaining the tag. As the sensing device is moved relative to anomnitagged surface region, it is thereby able to track its own motionrelative to the region and generate a set of timestamped positionsamples representative of its time-varying path. When the sensing deviceis a pen, then the path consists of a sequence of strokes, with eachstroke starting when the pen makes contact with the surface, and endingwhen the pen breaks contact with the surface.

[0678] When a stroke is forwarded to the page server 10 responsible forthe region ID, the server retrieves a description of the region keyed byregion ID, and interprets the stroke in relation to the description. Forexample, if the description includes a hyperlink and the strokeintersects the zone of the hyperlink, then the server may interpret thestroke as a designation of the hyperlink and activate the hyperlink.

[0679] 8.2.1 Item Id Management

[0680] As previously described, a structured item ID typically has athree-level encoding, consisting of a manufacturer ID, a product classnumber, and a serial number. In the EPC the manufacturer ID correspondsto the manager ID. Manufacturer ids are assigned to particularmanufacturers 235 by a governing body such the Uniform Code Council(UCC). Within the scope of each manufacturer ID the manufacturer 235assigns product class numbers to particular product classes 236, andwithin the scope of each product class number the manufacturer assignsserial numbers to individual product items 237. Each assignor in theassignment hierarchy ensures that each component of the item ID isassigned uniquely, with the end result that an item ID uniquelyidentifies a single product item. Each assigned item ID component isrobustly recorded to ensure unique assignment, and subsequently becomesa database key to details about the corresponding manufacturer, productor item. At the product level this information may include the product'sdescription, dimensions, weight and price, while at the item level itmay include the item's expiry date and place of manufacture.

[0681] As shown in FIG. 20, a collection of related product classes maybe recorded as a single product type 238, identified by a unique producttype ID 217. This provides the basis for mapping a scanned or otherwiseobtained product ID 214 (or the product ID portion of a scanned orotherwise obtained item ID 215) to a product type 238. This in turnallows a favorite application 828 for that product type to be identifiedfor a particular netpage user 800, as shown in FIG. 24.

[0682] As a product item moves through the supply chain, statusinformation is ideally maintained in a globally accessible database,keyed by the item ID. This information may include the item's dynamicposition in the packaging, shipping and transportation hierarchy, itslocation on a store shelf, and ultimately the date and time of its saleand the recipient of that sale. In a packaging, shipping andtransportation hierarchy, higher level units such as cases, pallets,shipping containers and trucks all have their own item ids, and thisprovides the basis for recording the dynamic hierarchy in which the endproduct item participates. Note that the concept of an item also extendsto a sub-component of an assembly or a component or element of asaleable product.

[0683]FIG. 20 shows the product description hierarchy corresponding tothe structure of the item id; the product item's dynamic participationin a dynamic packaging, shipping and transportation hierarchy; and theproduct item's dynamic ownership. As the figure shows, a container 231(e.g. case, pallet, shipping container, or truck) is a special case ofan uniquely identified object 230. The fact that the container isholding, or has held, a particular object for the duration of some timeinterval is represented by the time-stamped object location, wherein theend time remains unspecified until the container ceases to hold theitem. The object-container relationship is recursive, allowing it torepresent an arbitrary dynamic hierarchy. Clearly this representationcan be expanded to record the time-varying relative or absolutegeographic location of an object.

[0684] The fact that an entity 232 owns, or has owned, a particularobject for the duration of some time interval is represented by thetime-stamped object ownership 233, wherein the end time remainsunspecified until the entity ceases to own the item. The owning entity232 may represent a netpage user 800, e.g. when a netpage user purchasesa product item and the sale is recorded.

[0685] As shown in FIG. 56, a physical product item 201 is recorded as aproduct item 237 by a product server 251. A product item may be recordedin multiple product servers, managed by different participants in thesupply chain such as manufacturers, distributors and retailers. However,benefits accrue from providing a unified view of a product item, even ifthe unified view is provided virtually.

[0686] To foster interoperability between different supply chainparticipants and between disparate systems which may want to query andupdate both static and dynamic item information, such informationinterchanges are ideally performed using a standard representation. TheMIT Auto-ID Center's Physical Markup Language (PML) is an example of astandard representation designed for this purpose. For a detaileddescription of PML, refer to Brock, D. L. et al., The Physical MarkupLanguage, MIT Auto-ID Center (June 2001), the contents of which areherein incorporated by cross-reference.

[0687] 8.2.2 Region Id Management

[0688] An unstructured ID such as the region ID 50 may be assigned ondemand through a multi-level assignment hierarchy with a single rootnode. Lower-level assignors obtain blocks of ids from higher-levelassignors on demand. Unlike with structured ID assignment, these blockscorrespond to arbitrary ranges (or even sets) of ids, rather than to idswith fixed prefixes. Again, each assignor in the assignment hierarchyensures that blocks of ids and individual ids are assigned uniquely. Theregion ID subsequently becomes a database key to information about theregion. In the netpage system, this information includes a fulldescription of the graphical and interactive elements which appear inthe region. Graphical elements may include such things as text flows,text and images. Interactive elements may include such things asbuttons, hyperlinks, checkboxes, drawing fields, text fields andsignature fields.

[0689] 8.3 Omnitag Printing

[0690] An omnitag printer is a digital printer which prints omnitagsonto the label, packaging or actual surface of a product before, duringor after product manufacture and/or assembly. It is a special case of anetpage printer 601. It is capable of printing a continuous pattern ofomnitags onto a surface, typically using a near-infrared-absorptive ink.In high-speed environments, the printer includes hardware whichaccelerates tag rendering. This typically includes real-timeReed-Solomon encoding of variable tag data such as tag position, andreal-time template-based rendering of the actual tag pattern at the dotresolution of the printhead.

[0691] The printer may be an add-on infrared printer which prints theomnitags after text and graphics have been printed by other means, or anintegrated color and infrared printer which prints the omnitags, textand graphics simultaneously. Digitally-printed text and graphics mayinclude everything on the label or packaging, or may consist only of thevariable portions, with other portions still printed by other means.Thus an omnitag printer with an infrared and black printing capabilitycan displace an existing digital printer used for variable dataprinting, such as a conventional thermal transfer or inkjet printer.

[0692] For the purposes of the following discussion, any reference toprinting onto an item label is intended to include printing onto theitem packaging in general, or directly onto the item surface.Furthermore, any reference to an item ID 215 is intended to include aregion ID 50 (or collection of per-panel region ids), or a componentthereof.

[0693] The printer is typically controlled by a host computer, whichsupplies the printer with fixed and/or variable text and graphics aswell as item ids for inclusion in the omnitags. The host may providereal-time control over the printer, whereby it provides the printer withdata in real time as printing proceeds. As an optimisation, the host mayprovide the printer with fixed data before printing begins, and onlyprovide variable data in real time. The printer may also be capable ofgenerating per-item variable data based on parameters provided by thehost. For example, the host may provide the printer with a base item IDprior to printing, and the printer may simply increment the base item IDto generate successive item ids. Alternatively, memory in the inkcartridge or other storage medium inserted into the printer may providea source of unique item ids, in which case the printer reports theassignment of items ids to the host computer for recording by the host.

[0694] Alternatively still, the printer may be capable of reading apre-existing item ID from the label onto which the omnitags are beingprinted, assuming the unique ID has been applied in some form to thelabel during a previous manufacturing step. For example, the item ID mayalready be present in the form of a visible 2D bar code, or encoded inan RFID tag. In the former case the printer can include an optical barcode scanner. In the latter case it can include an RFID reader.

[0695] The printer may also be capable of rendering the item ID in otherforms. For example, it may be capable of printing the item ID in theform of a 2D bar code, or of printing the product ID component of theitem ID in the form of a ID bar code, or of writing the item ID to awritable or write-once RFID tag.

[0696] 8.4 Omnitag Scanning

[0697] Item information typically flows to the product server inresponse to situated scan events, e.g. when an item is scanned intoinventory on delivery; when the item is placed on a retail shelf; andwhen the item is scanned at point of sale. Both fixed and hand-heldscanners may be used to scan omnitagged product items, using bothlaser-based 2D scanning and 2D image-sensor-based scanning, usingsimilar or the same techniques as employed in the netpage pen.

[0698] As shown in FIG. 57, both a fixed scanner 254 and a hand-heldscanner 252 communicate scan data to the product server 251. The productserver may in turn communicate product item event data to a peer productserver (not shown), or to a product application server 250, which mayimplement sharing of data with related product servers. For example,stock movements within a retail store may be recorded locally on theretail store's product server, but the manufacturer's product server maybe notified once a product item is sold.

[0699] 8.5 Omnitag-Based Netpage Interactions

[0700] A product item whose labelling, packaging or actual surface hasbeen omnitagged provides the same level of interactivity as any othernetpage.

[0701] There is a strong case to be made for netpage-compatible producttagging. Netpage turns any printed surface into a finely differentiatedgraphical user interface akin to a Web page, and there are manyapplications which map nicely onto the surface of a product. Theseapplications include obtaining product information of various kinds(nutritional information; cooking instructions; recipes; relatedproducts; use-by dates; servicing instructions; recall notices); playinggames; entering competitions; managing ownership (registration; query,such as in the case of stolen goods; transfer); providing productfeedback; messaging; and indirect device control. If, on the other hand,the product tagging is undifferentiated, such as in the case of anundifferentiated 2D barcode or RFID-carried item ID, then the burden ofinformation navigation is transferred to the information deliverydevice, which may significantly increase the complexity of the userexperience or the required sophistication of the delivery device userinterface.

[0702] 8.5.1 Product Registration

[0703] An omnitagged product can contain a <register> button which, whenactivated with a netpage pen, registers the netpage user as the owner ofthe product. The user's contact information, which is already recordedon the netpage system, can be automatically transmitted to the productmanufacturer who can record it in their customer database. Theregistration process can automatically add the manufacturer to theuser's e-mail contact list, thus allowing the manufacturer to send theuser e-mail relevant to the product, such as related special offers,recall notices, etc. If the manufacturer abuses their e-mail priveleges,the user can bar them in the usual way.

[0704] 8.5.2 Product Information via Product ID

[0705] Some of the benefits of omnitagging products can be gained byenhancing the netpage pen to decode UPC bar codes. Alternatively a UPCbar code scanner can netpage-enabled. When the netpage system receives ascanned UPC, it forwards a request to a default or favorite applicationfor that product type (as described earlier), and this in turn elicitsproduct information from the application, such as in the form of aprinted netpage. The product page can also include the facility to enterthe serial number of the product item and register the user's ownershipof it via a <register> button. Product manufacturers can thus gain thebenefits of netpage linking for their entire installed base of productswithout making alterations to the products themselves.

[0706] 8.5.3 Context-Specific Product Help

[0707] If the entire surface of a product is omnitagged, then pressingon any part of the surface with a netpage pen can then elicitproduct-specific help. The help is either specific to the area pressed,or relates to the product as a whole. Thus the user of the product hasinstant access to helpful information about specific features of aproduct as well as the product as a whole. Each feature-specific helppage can be linked to the entire product manual.

[0708] 8.5.4 Product Ownership Tracking

[0709] If the entire surface of a product is omnitagged, then pressingon any part of the surface with a netpage pen can elicit a descriptionof the product and its current ownership. After the product ispurchased, pressing on any part of the surface can automaticallyregister the product in the name of the owner of the netpage pen. Anyonecan determine the ownership of a product offered for sale simply bypressing on any part of its surface with a Netpage Pen. Ownership mayonly be registered by a new owner if the current owner has relinquishedownership by signing the “sell” portion of the product's status page.This places the product in an “un-owned” state.

[0710] Product information and ownership is maintained either by theproduct manufacturer, as a service to its customers, or by aprofit-oriented third party.

[0711] The shipping computer system of a product manufacturer canautomatically transfer ownership of products from the manufacturer tothe distributor or retailer, and so on down through the supply chain.The retail computer system of the retailer can automatically mark eachsold item as free, or transfer ownership directly to the holder of thepayment card used to pay for the product. The customer can also use anetpage pen at the point of sale to register immediate ownership of theproduct.

[0712] Traditional clearing-houses for stolen goods, such as pawn shops,can be required by law to check the ownership of all products presentedto them. Since an omnitagged product has an invisible encoding on mostor all of its surface, it is difficult for a thief to remove it or eventell if it has been successfully removed. Conversely, it is incumbent ona potential buyer of a product to ensure that a clean reading can beobtained from its surface so that its ownership can be indisputablyestablished.

[0713] Where a product is leased or otherwise subject to complex ormultiple ownership, the product registration database can reflect thisand thus alert a potential buyer.

[0714] Conclusion

[0715] Although the invention has been described with reference to anumber of specific examples, it will be appreciated by those skilled inthe art that the invention can be embodied in many other forms.

1. A method of facilitating an interaction between a user and a productitem, the product item having an identity and the method including thesteps of: providing the user with an interface surface associated withthe product item and containing information relating to the productitem, the interface surface having disposed thereon coded dataindicative of the identity of the product item and of a plurality ofreference points of the interface surface; receiving, in a computersystem, indicating data from a sensing device regarding the identity ofthe product item and a position of the sensing device relative to theinterface surface, the sensing device, when placed in an operativeposition relative to the interface surface, sensing at least some of thecoded data in the vicinity of the sensing device and generating theindicating data using at least some of the sensed coded data; andfacilitating, in the computer system and with reference to theindicating data, the interaction between the user and the product item.2. The method of claim 1 in which the interaction is associated with atleast one zone of the interface surface and in which the method includesidentifying, in the computer system and from the zone relative to whichthe sensing device is located, the interaction.
 3. The method of claim 2which includes: receiving, in the computer system, data regardingmovement of the sensing device relative to the interface surface, thesensing device sensing its movement relative to the interface surfaceusing at least some of the coded data; and identifying, in the computersystem and from the movement being at least partially within the atleast one zone, the interaction.
 4. A method of facilitating aninteraction between a user and a product item, the product item havingan identity and the method including the steps of: providing the userwith an interface surface associated with the product item, theinterface surface containing information relating to the product itemand having disposed thereon coded data indicative of the identity of theproduct item and a parameter of the interaction; receiving, in acomputer system and from a sensing device, indicating data regarding theidentity of both the product item and the parameter of the interaction,and movement data regarding movement of the sensing device relative tothe interface surface, the sensing device, when moved relative to theinterface surface, sensing at least some of the coded data andgenerating the indicating data and the movement data using at least someof the sensed coded data; and interpreting, in the computer system, theindicating data and the movement data as it relates to the interaction.5. A method of facilitating an interaction between a user and a productitem, the product item having an identity and the method including thesteps of: providing the user with an interface surface associated withthe product item, the interface surface containing information relatingto the product item and having disposed thereon coded data indicative ofthe identity of the product item; receiving, in a computer system, userdata from a sensing device regarding an identity of the user andindicating data regarding the identity of the product item, the sensingdevice containing the user data and, when placed in an operativeposition relative to the interface surface, sensing at least some of thecoded data in the vicinity of the sensing device and generating theindicating data using at least some of the sensed coded data; andfacilitating, in the computer system and with reference to the user dataand the indicating data, the interaction between the user and theproduct item.
 6. The method of claim 5 in which the coded data is alsoindicative of a parameter of the interaction, and the method includesreceiving, in the computer system, indicating data from the sensingdevice regarding the parameter of the interaction, the sensing devicegenerating the indicating data using at least some of the sensed codeddata.
 7. The method of claim 6 which includes receiving, in the computersystem, data from the sensing device regarding movement of the sensingdevice relative to the interface surface, the sensing device generatingdata regarding its own movement relative to the interface surface. 8.The method of any one of claims 1, 4 or 5 in which the interaction isselected from the group comprising: (a) providing product informationabout the product item to the user; (b) recording a purchase transactionrelating to the product item; (c) recording a potential purchasetransaction relating to the product item; (d) providing comparisoninformation to the user, the comparison information comparing theproduct information about the product item with product informationabout another product item; (e) playing a game associated with theproduct item; and (f) conducting a competition in relation to theproduct item.
 9. A method according to claim 8 wherein the productinformation comprises information relating to any one of the productitem's: (a) cost; (b) contents; (c) weight; (d) place of origin; (e)manufacturer; (f) date of manufacture; (g) date of packaging; (h) use-bydate; (i) current owner; and (j) dimensions.
 10. A method according toany one of claims 1, 4 or 5 wherein the interface surface is selectedfrom the group comprising: (a) a label; (b) a package; and (c) a surfaceof the product item itself.
 11. A method according to any one of claims1, 4 or 5 wherein the coded data is substantially invisible to theaverage unaided human.
 12. A method according to any one of claims 1, 4or 5 wherein the coded data is disposed over a substantial portion ofthe interface surface.
 13. A method according to claim 12 wherein thecoded data is disposed over more than 20% of the interface surface. 14.A method according to claim 12 wherein the coded data is disposed overmore than 90% of the interface surface.
 15. The method of any one ofclaims 1, 4 or 5 wherein the method further comprises identifying, inthe computer system, that the user has entered handwritten text data bymeans of the sensing device and effecting, in the computer system, anoperation associated with the handwritten text data.
 16. The method ofclaim 15 which includes converting, in the computer system, thehandwritten text data to computer text.
 17. The method of any one ofclaims 1, 4 or 5 wherein the method further comprises identifying, inthe computer system, that the user has entered a handwritten signatureby means of the sensing device and effecting, in the computer system, anoperation associated with the handwritten signature.
 18. The method ofclaim 17 which includes verifying, in the computer system, that thesignature is that of the user.
 19. The method of claim 17 in which theoperation associated with the handwritten signature is associated withpayment authorization.
 20. The method of any one of claims 1, 4 or 5wherein the method further comprises identifying, in the computersystem, that the user has entered a hand-drawn picture by means of thesensing device and effecting, in the computer system, an operationassociated with the hand-drawn picture.
 21. The method of any one ofclaims 1, 4 or 5 in which: a portion of the coded data is superimposedwith a visual graphic, the visual graphic being at least partiallyindicative, to the user, of the interaction.
 22. The method of claim 1or claim 4 in which the sensing device contains an identifier whichimparts a unique identity to the sensing device and identifies it asbelonging to the user and in which the method includes monitoring, inthe computer system, the identifier.
 23. The method of any one of claims1, 4 or 5 which includes providing all required information relating tothe interaction in the interface surface to eliminate the need for aseparate display device.
 24. A system for facilitating an interactionbetween a user and a product item, the product item having an identityand the system including: a interface surface associated with theproduct item and containing information relating to the product item,the interface surface having disposed thereon coded data indicative ofthe identity of the product item and of a plurality of reference pointsof the interface surface; and a computer system adapted to facilite theinteraction in response to receiving indicating data from a sensingdevice, the indicating data being indicative of the identity of theproduct item and of a position of the sensing device relative to theinterface surface, the sensing device, when placed in an operativeposition relative to the interface surface, sensing at least some of thecoded data in the vicinity of the sensing device and generating theindicating data using at least some of the sensed coded data.
 25. Thesystem of claim 24 in which the interaction is associated with at leastone zone of the interface surface.
 26. The system of claim 24 whichincludes the sensing device, the sensing device sensing its movementrelative to the interface surface using at least some of the coded data.27. A system for facilitating an interaction between a user and aproduct item, the product item having an identity and the systemincluding an interface surface associated with the product item, theinterface surface containing information relating to the product itemand having disposed thereon coded data indicative of the identity of theproduct item and of a parameter of the interaction; and a computersystem for receiving, from a sensing device, indicating data regardingthe identity of both the product item and the parameter of theinteraction, and movement data regarding movement of the sensing devicerelative to the interface surface, and for interpreting the movement ofthe sensing device as it relates to the interaction, the sensing device,when moved relative to the interface surface, sensing at least some ofthe coded data and generating the indicating data and the movement datausing at least some of the sensed coded data.
 28. A system forfacilitating an interaction between a user and a product item, theproduct item having an identity and the system including: a interfacesurface associated with the product item, the interface surfacecontaining information relating to the product item and having disposedthereon coded data indicative of the identity of the product item; and acomputer system adapted to receive from a sensing device user dataregarding an identity of the user and indicating data regarding theidentity of the product item, and for facilitating, with reference tothe user data and the indicating data, the interaction between the userand the product item, the sensing device containing the user data and,when placed in an operative position relative to the interface surface,sensing at least some of the coded data in the vicinity of the sensingdevice and generating the indicating data using at least some of thesensed coded data.
 29. The system of claim 28 in which the coded data isalso indicative of a parameter of the interaction, the computer systemreceiving indicating data from the sensing device regarding theparameter of the interaction, and the sensing device generating theindicating data using at least some of the coded data.
 30. The system ofclaim 28 which includes the sensing device, the sensing device sensingits movement relative to the interface surface.
 31. The system of anyone of claims 24, 27 or 28 in which the interaction is selected from thegroup comprising: (a) providing product information about the productitem to the user; (b) recording a purchase transaction relating to theproduct item; (c) recording a potential purchase transaction relating tothe product item; (d) providing comparison information to the user, thecomparison information comparing the product information about theproduct item with product information about another product item; (e)playing a game associated with the product item; and (f) conducting acompetition in relation to the product item.
 32. The system of claim 31wherein the product information comprises information relating to anyone of the product item's: (a) cost; (b) contents; (c) weight; (d) placeof origin; (e) manufacturer; (f) date of manufacture; (g) date ofpackaging; (h) use-by date; (i) current owner; and (j) dimensions. 33.The system of any one of claims 24, 27 or 28 wherein the interfacesurface is selected from the group comprising: (a) a label; (b) apackage; and (c) a surface of the product item itself.
 34. The system ofany one of claims 24, 27 or 28 wherein the coded data is substantiallyinvisible to the average unaided human.
 35. The system of any one ofclaims 24, 27 or 28 wherein the coded data is disposed over asubstantial portion of the interface surface.
 36. The system of claim 35wherein the coded data is disposed over more than 20% of the interfacesurface.
 37. The system of claim 35 wherein the coded data is disposedover more than 90% of the interface surface.
 38. The system of any oneof claims 24, 27 and 28 in which the sensing device includes a markingnib.
 39. The system of any one of claims 24, 27 and 28 in which thesensing device contains an identifier which imparts a unique identity tothe sensing device and identifies it as belonging to the user.
 40. Themethod of any one of claims 1, 4 or 5 wherein the coded data is disposedon the interface surface in accordance with a layout, the layout havingat least order n rotational symmetry, where n is at least two, thelayout encoding an orientation codeword comprising a sequence of aninteger multiple m of n symbols, where m is one or more, each encodedsymbol being distributed at n locations about a center of rotationalsymmetry of the layout such that decoding the symbols at each of the norientations of the layout produces n representations of the orientationcodeword, each representation comprising a different cyclic shift of theorientation codeword and being indicative of the degree of rotation ofthe layout, and wherein the orientation codeword is fault tolerant. 41.The method of any one of claims 1, 4 or 5 wherein the coded data isdisposed on the interface surface in accordance with a layout, thelayout having at least order n rotational symmetry, where n is at leasttwo, the layout including n identical sub-layouts rotated 1/nrevolutions apart about a center of rotational symmetry of the layout,the coded data disposed in accordance with each sub-layout includingrotation-indicating data that distinguishes the rotation of thatsub-layout from the rotation of at least one other sub-layout within thelayout.
 42. The method of any one of claims 1, 4 or 5 wherein the codeddata is disposed on the interface surface in accordance with a layouthaving n-fold rotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layoutincluding n identical first sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apartabout a center of rotational symmetry of the layout, the coded datadisposed in accordance with each first sub-layout includingrotation-indicating data that distinguishes the rotation of that firstsub-layout from the rotation of at least one other first sub-layoutwithin the layout.
 43. The system of any one of claims 24, 27 or 28wherein the coded data is disposed on the interface surface inaccordance with a layout, the layout having at least order n rotationalsymmetry, where n is at least two, the layout encoding an orientationcodeword comprising a sequence of an integer multiple m of n symbols,where m is one or more, each encoded symbol being distributed at nlocations about a center of rotational symmetry of the layout such thatdecoding the symbols at each of the n orientations of the layoutproduces n representations of the orientation codeword, eachrepresentation comprising a different cyclic shift of the orientationcodeword and being indicative of the degree of rotation of the layout,and wherein the orientation codeword is fault tolerant.
 44. The systemof any one of claims 24, 27 or 28 wherein the coded data is disposed onthe interface surface in accordance with a layout, the layout having atleast order n rotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layoutincluding n identical sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about acenter of rotational symmetry of the layout, the coded data disposed inaccordance with each sub-layout including rotation-indicating data thatdistinguishes the rotation of that sub-layout from the rotation of atleast one other sub-layout within the layout.
 45. The system of any oneof claims 24, 27 or 28 wherein the coded data is disposed on theinterface surface in accordance with a layout having n-fold rotationalsymmetry, where n is at least two, the layout including n identicalfirst sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apart about a center ofrotational symmetry of the layout, the coded data disposed in accordancewith each first sub-layout including rotation-indicating data thatdistinguishes the rotation of that first sub-layout from the rotation ofat least one other first sub-layout within the layout.
 46. Aninteractive product item adapted for interaction with a user via asensing device and a computer system, and comprising: a product itemhaving an identity; an interface surface associated with the productitem and having disposed thereon information relating to the productitem and coded data indicative of the identity of the product item. 47.The interactive product item of claim 46 wherein the coded data isfurther indicative of a plurality of reference points of the interfacesurface.
 48. The interactive product item of claim 46 or claim 47wherein the coded data is further indicative of a parameter of aninteraction.
 49. The interactive product item of claim 46 wherein theinterface surface is selected from the group comprising: (a) a label;(b) a package; and (c) a surface of the product item itself.
 50. Theinteractive product item of claim 49 wherein the coded data is disposedon the interface surface in accordance with a layout, the layout havingat least order n rotational symmetry, where n is at least two, thelayout encoding an orientation codeword comprising a sequence of aninteger multiple m of n symbols, where m is one or more, each encodedsymbol being distributed at n locations about a center of rotationalsymmetry of the layout such that decoding the symbols at each of the norientations of the layout produces n representations of the orientationcodeword, each representation comprising a different cyclic shift of theorientation codeword and being indicative of the degree of rotation ofthe layout, and wherein the orientation codeword is fault tolerant. 51.The interactive product item of claim 49 wherein the coded data isdisposed on the interface surface in accordance with a layout, thelayout having at least order n rotational symmetry, where n is at leasttwo, the layout including n identical sub-layouts rotated 1/nrevolutions apart about a center of rotational symmetry of the layout,the coded data disposed in accordance with each sub-layout includingrotation-indicating data that distinguishes the rotation of thatsub-layout from the rotation of at least one other sub-layout within thelayout.
 52. The interactive product item of claim 49 wherein the codeddata is disposed on the interface surface in accordance with a layouthaving n-fold rotational symmetry, where n is at least two, the layoutincluding n identical first sub-layouts rotated 1/n revolutions apartabout a center of rotational symmetry of the layout, the coded datadisposed in accordance with each first sub-layout includingrotation-indicating data that distinguishes the rotation of that firstsub-layout from the rotation of at least one other first sub-layoutwithin the lay-out.